Location for first cellulose plant sought

WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) — After months of researching the feasibility of the first full-scale commercial cellulosic ethanol plant, Duane Grant, a farmer from Idaho, is in Canada trying to sell his state to Iogen Corp. in Ottawa, the world leader in cellulosic ethanol production.

“There will only be one first plant,” Grant said. “And we want that in Idaho.”

Iogen is also looking at two other sites in Canada’s breadbasket region, one in Saskatchewan and one in Alberta.

Grant, a barley and alfalfa grower who has been involved with technology applications in farming for quite some time, said there are three factors that make a location in Idaho Falls ideal for Iogen’s first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant: its climate, the nature of the farming and the location of the plant.

“Idaho is perfect because of our climate,” Grant said. “We have a drier climate and we can then supply dry straw for the first plant.”

Having dry straw is important because moisture makes the straw heavier and more costly to transport and more difficult to preprocess with enzymes that are used to break the cellulose stock into basic large sugar components.

UPI