BlueFire Ethanol and MIFI to Study Forestry Waste for Cellulosic Ethanol Feedstock

28 June 2007

BlueFire Ethanol Fuels and the Mississippi Institute for Forest Inventory (MIFI) will conduct a study to determine the feasibility of a cellulose-to-ethanol production facility using forestry waste as its feedstock.

BlueFire Ethanol was established to use the Arkenol process for the conversion of cellulosic waste material to ethanol. The Arkenol process uses concentrated acid hydrolysis to process cellulosic biomass into simple sugars suitable for fermenting into ethanol. (Earlier post.)

Earlier this year, the company received a $40 million award from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop a cellulosic ethanol plant that will produce about 19 million gallons of ethanol a year from 700 tons per day of sorted green waste and wood waste from landfills. (Earlier post.)

MIFI’s mission is to develop and implement a continuous, statewide forest resource inventory necessary for the sustainable forest-based economy. BlueFire and MIFI are mutually interested in research related to the application of cellulosic ethanol conversion for forestry waste streams.