SOPERTON, Ga., July 2 Range Fuels announced it's received a construction permit from the state of Georgia to build the first U.S. commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant.
Ground breaking in Soperton, Ga., is set to take place this summer for a 100-million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant, with completion of the first phase expected in 2008. The plant will use wood waste from Georgia's forests as its feedstock. Production capacity of the first phase is expected to be 20 million gallons a year.
"We are thrilled to receive this permit and anticipate the construction of many plants throughout Georgia and the Southeast using wood waste to make ethanol," said Mitch Mandich, chief executive officer of Range Fuels. "With Independence Day on July 4, we are excited to begin the march toward independence from our country's reliance on fossil fuel."
The company was selected in February, after plans for the plant were released, to negotiate for up to a $76 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.
"Cellulosic ethanol offers tremendous promise for not only the development of an alternative energy source, but also rural economic development for our state," said Georgia's Gov. Sonny Perdue. "We look forward to the construction of this plant and are hopeful this is the first of many more to come."
Range Fuels' plant will use a thermo-chemical process to convert the biomass to synthesis gas and then to ethanol.
"The department is pleased that the country is one step closer to making the widespread use of cellulosic ethanol a reality," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman. "This furthers the President's goal of deploying clean, renewable energy into the marketplace, and we are eager for the results of Range Fuels' work, and the work of the other biorefinery grant recipients, to help increase energy security and enhance economic growth."
Copyright 2007 by UPI
