Coskata Inc. a developer of cellulosic ethanol and strategic partner with General Motors (NYSE: GM) announced the location of its commercial demonstration plant near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The projected will be located at the Westinghouse Plasma Center, the current site of a pilot-plant gasifier, owned by Westinghouse Plasma Corporation. The company said $25 million will be spent to make the facility capable of producing 40,000 gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year.
It is expected to begin deliveries in early 2009. Plasma torches on site will heat a variety of non-food feedstocks, including woody biomass as well as agricultural and industrial wastes. The resulting gases will be cooled and then consumed by patented microorganisms, which excrete ethanol and water.
"Coskata has been eager to reach this milestone, because it will be a significant demonstration before building our first commercial plant that we can produce ethanol from non-food based sources for less than US $1 a gallon," said Bill Roe, president and CEO of Coskata. "This facility is being built with some of the leading gasification technology, supplied by Alter NRG, and in one of the most progressive states for next generation ethanol."
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