Wisconsin Start-up Ethanol Company Considering Using Black Liquor as Feedstock

4 March 2007

Third Coast Bio-Fuels LLC is in discussions with Stora Enso to use black liquor, a byproduct of the pulp process in paper making, as a second, less expensive source of feedstock to corn.

The Wisconsin company had planned to build a 50 million gallon-per-year corn ethanol plant, but that project has not progressed.

Because the long-term profitability in ethanol lies in alternative sources of feedstock, [Ron] Kuehn said, the plant will utilize cellulosic feedstock no matter where it goes. Either the plant would have a corn intake and a cellulosic intake working simultaneously, or the plant would begin using corn, then convert to cellulosic, he said.