Ethanol giant POET says it can make ethanol from cellulosic sources–rather than the corn grain it’s usually made from in the United States–for costs that are approaching that of corn grain ethanol. Last year, when it started a pilot plant for making ethanol from corn cobs (one of many potential cellulosic sources), it cost $4.13 to make a gallon of ethanol. Now it costs just $2.35 per gallon. In comparison, corn grain ethanol costs about $1.60 to $1.90 a gallon, a cost heavily dependent on the price of corn and natural gas. The company hopes to get costs below $2 a gallon.
That’s considerably more than the $1 per gallon figure that some startups are claiming, but who knows if those estimates will pan out. The $2.35 figure from POET seems solid–it comes from a company that knows how to make large amounts of ethanol, and the figure includes all of the relevant costs: “interest, depreciation, wages, benefits, repairs, maintenance, insurance, etc.,” according to a company spokesperson. It seems like a good indication that cellulosic ethanol could soon be competitive with conventional ethanol, and fossil fuels.
A number of factors have helped bring costs down, the company says.
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