Cellulosic: The Future is Now
Posted: October 8, 2007
The Cellulosic Ethanol Summit next week will highlight the great strides already being made in this field which is generally considered to be the future for ethanol.
At the event, leaders from the agricultural, industrial biotech, biorefinery developer and financial communities will gather to share their communities’ perspectives on what is needed to form an efficient and effective value chain to commercialize cellulosic ethanol production.
Acting Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner will keynote the event and just last week he spoke at a media event sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association about the future of cellulosic ethanol.
“The challenge before us is to find practical and cost effective ways to produce cellulosic ethanol from a whole variety of feedstocks depending upon what region of the country you are from,” said Conner. “That is going to require not only scientific breakthroughs, but innovative approaches to the logistical, planning and infrastructure challenges that cellulosic ethanol production brings.”
Conner talked about the importance of federal funding for biofuels research. “That is why the administration and the Department of Agriculture proposed $1.6 billion in new spending on research and development in the area of renewable fuels as part of this year’s Farm Bill debate,” he said. Some of the proposals were approved in the House version of the Farm Bill, but he noted that funding for the proposed Bioenergy and Biobased Product Research Initiative was not provided. “Obviously authority without funding doesn’t get you very far in terms of research, development and commercialization,” he noted.
Read the entire text of Conner’s speech here.
One of the many companies working to make the cellulosic future a reality is POET of Sioux Falls, SD. The company just finalized a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy for a commercial cellulosic ethanol project in Emmetsburg, Iowa. POET representatives will be discussing the progress they are making with Project Liberty at the summit next week.
The Summit will be in Washington, D.C., Oct. 15-17. Among the sponsors for the event are the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC), the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), and the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA).
Believe it – the future is now!
