SEP 26

Looks like some big players are making a push for cellulosic ethanol. This past July, Royal Dutch Shell signed a deal with Iogen, a Canadian biotech company. Iogen has been working on bringing cellulosic ethanol production to scale, using feedstocks such as straw and corn stover (leaves and stalks). They recently shipped the first 100,000 liters of ethanol to Shell.

It makes sense that Shell is looking to ethanol. If I was an oil company, I would be most interested in alternative energy sources that are most compatible with my technology. Ethanol is already blended into gasoline here in the US up to 15%. Combustion engines can be modified, too, in order to run on higher blends of ethanol; in Brazil, most cars run on 100% ethanol. The technology – the combustion engine – is still the same, and it is therefore a natural choice for an oil company looking to expand to new markets.

The fact that Iogen has started to deliver the ethanol is good news. It makes a clear statement that cellulosic ethanol is a real technology, not just a laboratory idea. Hopefully, as more companies bring cellulosic ethanol to scale, we will be able to move away from the first generation of biofuels, which have been extensively criticized due to the fact that they compete with food production.

Via Green Car Congress
Image Courtesy of Iogen

Comments (2)

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Most vehicles in Brazil?!
written by Jason, September 26, 2008

I'm disappointed in your fact checking. Most of the cars in Brazil DO NOT run on 100% ethanol (Alcool in Brazil). It is true that most new cars are made as flex-fuel and can run on any gas/ethanol mix and that most light government fleet vehicles do run on 100% however this doesn't cover "most cars" since there are millions of pre-flex cars out there. It's also worth noting that Brazil's oil consumption is still much larger than it's ethanol consumption and MOST cars run on a 20-25% blend since all gasoline pumps are required to carry the blend.
Why would I know all this? I love to vacation there, my wife is from there and I know how to use Wikipedia (or any other internet source for that matter). I love ecogeek but don't blatantly throw out statistics that you haven't checked (common reporter error it seems). Ethanol is a good step, but Brazil has been doing it since the 70's and still hasn't replaced even the majority of it's oil consumption. Ethanol is not our savior.

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ethanol use in Brazil
written by tom, September 29, 2008

It is true that ethanol is being used as an alternative to gasoline in Brazil since the 70's, but just recently its use has been revamped in the country because it became costly attractive, in comparison to the oil prices. It is also true to say that today the vast majority of new cars entering the Brazilian market are flex-fuel, that is, may use either gasoline or ethanol or any combination of the two, at the consumer's choice. It is just a matter of time to see the majority of the fleet running on flex-fuel cars.

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