BlueFire pushes cleantech approach to ethanol production
BlueFire Ethanol, which is a company that has developed technology to transform non-food cellulosic waste (aka wood wastes and related sorts of urban trash), is getting closer to nailing financing for a plant it is planning in Fulton, Mississippi.
The company is seeking $250 million from the Department of Energy for the construction and launch of the facility, which is projected to create up to 19 million gallons of ethanol per year. That money would be on top of the roughly $88 million in funding that it has already received. According to the latest development, BlueFire has made it through the first-round evaluation by the DOE to determine whether its technology is relevant for a $250 million loan guarantee.
When I spoke with BlueFire CEO Arnold Klann a few weeks back, he said the company will continue to use a combination of public and private funding sources to help get BlueFire's technology out into the real-world. The BlueFire process converts tree clippings and other organic waste that would be traditionally be buried under municipal waste management programs and converts it into ethanol. Klann says approximately one ton of waste will create about 70 gallons of ethanol.
Aside from the Mississippi project, Klann says BlueFire is working on a project in the city of Lancaster, Calif.