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Cars that run on garbage, part 1
There are urban myths that say an inventor found a way to run cars on water, but that the auto and oil companies squelch the knowledge to maintain the profitable status quo. Well, here's a new one, and supposedly it is not a myth: Tomorrow's automotive fuels may come from designer bugs and bioreactors, using garbage as a feedstock. Moreover, an auto company is helping bankroll the research.
Recent articles in the Chicago Tribune discuss a new bio-fuels start-up company called Coskata that is creating designer bacteria that can break down garbage and make it into ethanol. This company is now in partnership with General Motors and hopes to produce 100 million gallons of ethanol from organic landfill material at costs up to one dollar per gallon cheaper than gasoline. The feedstock is basically anything with carbon, including crop residue, wood chips, tires, and even plastic bottles. Landfills already produce methane without any help, so this doesn't seem all that far fetched. The ethanol will be blended with gasoline to make E85 fuel which is getting increasingly common. GM will put this stuff in its flex-fuel vehicles (A technology which Asian manufacturers have not embraced extensively) and everyone gains.
This is not a conventional fermentation and distillation process. Coskata's process uses two stages. In the first, they turn biomass into carbon monoxide and hydrogen. That part isn't too difficult, but the magic is their special bacteria that takes those gasses and turns them into ethanol. The whole process takes less water and energy than conventional corn based fuels. Before this year is out, Coskata plans on building a pilot plant capable of generating 40,000 gallons annually.
Is this hype or reality? More to come.
Cars that run on garbage, part 1
January 15, 2008
There are urban myths that say an inventor found a way to run cars on water, but that the auto and oil companies squelch the knowledge to maintain the profitable status quo. Well, here's a new one, and supposedly it is not a myth: Tomorrow's automotive fuels may come from designer bugs and bioreactors, using garbage as a feedstock. Moreover, an auto company is helping bankroll the research.Recent articles in the Chicago Tribune discuss a new bio-fuels start-up company called Coskata that is creating designer bacteria that can break down garbage and make it into ethanol. This company is now in partnership with General Motors and hopes to produce 100 million gallons of ethanol from organic landfill material at costs up to one dollar per gallon cheaper than gasoline. The feedstock is basically anything with carbon, including crop residue, wood chips, tires, and even plastic bottles. Landfills already produce methane without any help, so this doesn't seem all that far fetched. The ethanol will be blended with gasoline to make E85 fuel which is getting increasingly common. GM will put this stuff in its flex-fuel vehicles (A technology which Asian manufacturers have not embraced extensively) and everyone gains.
This is not a conventional fermentation and distillation process. Coskata's process uses two stages. In the first, they turn biomass into carbon monoxide and hydrogen. That part isn't too difficult, but the magic is their special bacteria that takes those gasses and turns them into ethanol. The whole process takes less water and energy than conventional corn based fuels. Before this year is out, Coskata plans on building a pilot plant capable of generating 40,000 gallons annually.
Is this hype or reality? More to come.
Posted by Peter Welander on January 15, 2008 | Comments (0)
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