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GM is certainly in need of some positive news. But is this for "real"? There is another company making precisely the same claims on gasification based ethanol http://www.brienergy.com/ down in Arkansas. What does "$1/gallon mean? Feedstock using municipal waste are probably being assumed to be $75 dollars, unseparated from metals and such. But they appear to lump in all agriculture "waste" and biomass in general. Since gasification alone will cost at least $1.50/gallon of ethanol, then you still have fermentation and distillation...AND feedstock costs, is a $1/gallon honest?

Does having Vinod Khosla being an investor insure anything? He has invested in every type of biomass ethanol potential. Are the key scientists Datta and Zeikus known for commercial successes, including their stint at Michigan Biotechnology Institute which is notorious for having spent hundreds of millions of government funds with only one minor success back in the early 1990s?

Technically, the Achille's heel of gasification/super bugs lies in economical separation, essential for not killing the bugs. These guys might be claiming to have solved that, but on what scale? What engineering firm confirmed that? Argonne National Labs?? Hmmmmm It is a lab process, and GM is desperate for press. A true ethanol cocktail for hype. If anyone EVER claims $1/gallon of ethanol...RUN, don't walk..away.

Swampfox

Hey Swampfox...didn't you mean "negative cost tipping fee for municipal solid waste"

Well, yes, I did...........

Unfortunately, Swampfox is incorrect with his facts.

Coskata is able to make ethanol for under $1/gallon using almost any reasonable feedstock. The cost will go down from there based on the input material cost.

Check out www.coskata.com

It explains the process, the energy savings, and how it is possible. A well informed reader will be able to see how this process differs from other next generation ethanol processes and is possible. There will be a lot of people try to tear down the process.

OK..let' start with some simple math. An American farmer producing biomass will incur production costs of at least $40/dry ton, before profit. Most farmers will tell you the cost will be even higher than that. Coskata claims it can produce 100 gallons of ethanol per ton of biomass. With a minimum cost per ton of biomass of being $50, that comes out at $.50/gallon of ethanol...before ANY processing is done. As there is no distinction made by Coskata between negative cost MSW (a tough source for carbon, by anyone's standards) and switchgrass in Michigan. A $50 biomass cost projection does NOT include 10 yrs which will include varying production levels due to drought. That will likely add an average of $10/ton.

Then, there is the expressed capital cost of $300,000. Again, that is a minimum of $.60/gallon. Then, you have labor, overhead, energy (there are people saying the energy in this process is "free"), maintenance, management and many other costs which will add a minimum of another $.60/gallon.

The number of switchgrass hauling trucks in an average sized ethanol plant will involve up to 500 trucks per day, 365 days a year, regardless of weather. Either the biomass must be stored remotely, as is corn is done in silos along RR tracks, or it must be stored at the ethanol plant site to insure continuous availability. A huge logistical problem that....costs money...at least another $10-15/ton.

Assuming the process works and does not require an exceptionally high maintenance cost, the minimum cost, despite the optimistic and frankly absurd projection of $1/gallon will be at least $2/gallon, FOB the ethanol plant.

Address these points directly, not with hand-waving.

Swampfox

Correction...that is $300,000,000 installed capital cost. And gasification experts tell me that the biomass must be relatively dry to have efficiency in production of syngas.