VIDEO: Learn How Coskata Makes Ethanol at New Flex Facility in Pennsylvania
Coskata recently opened its first semi-commercial flexible ethanol plant in Madison, Pa. This facility, called Project Lighthouse, will be producing ethanol from numerous feedstocks such as wood biomass, agricultural waste, sustainable energy crops and construction waste. Through the video below, take a tour of the facility and learn how Coskata makes ethanol from virtually any carbon-based feedstock. Project Lighthouse represents the successful scale-up of Coskata’s technology, and serves as a showcase for the world’s first commercially-viable flex ethanol process. Coskata’s technology reduces greenhouse gasses by as much as 96 percent over conventional gasoline, while using less than half the water it takes to produce a gallon of gasoline, and we’re already using some of the ethanol from Project Lighthouse for vehicle testing at our Milford Proving Grounds.
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I have a question. Can I buy the company and set up the plants in China? This great technology will greatly reduce China’s reliance on petroleum. The Politburo might be interested in this. Alright I am just kidding!
I recall an experiment we did in Junior High School where we “cracked” wood chips and tobacco inside a pyrex test tube. This plant sounds like a giant version of that class room experiment. The smokey output from the wood was flammable as I recall, and I presume that the smoke contained the type of alcohol that is not fit for consumption (rubbing alcohol). The tobbaco was run through the test tubes like the wood chips and then we distilled the smokey output through a condenser tube and collected the residual stuff in another test tube. The output contained a lot of junk like tars (filtered normally by your lungs) as well as clear liquids of some type.
When you bio-react all that cellulose, does this process generate a lot of junk byproducts as well? I think it’s cool stuff, and anything that gets us closer to energy independence has my vote. However, doing massive amounts of cellulose and the subsequent run off of waste may cause other issues.
What’s left over and how does Coskata manage the waste? Are there toxic products we need to be aware of, and are there other useful byproducts other than ethanol that come out of the process?
I recall an experiment we did in Junior High School where we “cracked” wood chips and tobacco inside a pyrex test tube. This plant sounds like a giant version of that class room experiment.
Mike,
That was the process used for hundreds of years for making charcoal, and even “town gas” from coal. Nowadays, we would call it a biomass gasification.
That is essentially what Coskata is doing. The only question is why they are going through the extra steps of using proprietary microorganism in a bioreactor to turn the syngas from the gasifier into ethanol, when instead it would be easier to make fuels such as methanol directly from the syngas.
This is great. It could help to moot the CAFE and emissions regulations.
Why not have all cars flex fuel E-85 capable so automakers can claim exemption from CAFE and emissions regulations in the Supreme Court.
Automakers are not fuel makers so the automakers are not legally responsible for the type of fuel used.
Ethanol has no emissions.
I feel a little funny today, hope you can laugh along, but since they can make ethanol from ANY carbon-based feedstock, and since we, the people are considered a carbon-based life form I can hear the echo of Charleton Heston’s words: “Soylent Green Is People!”
You make a good point. Why waste valuable real estate burying people after they are dead? Let’s just throw them in a biomass gasifier, turn them into syngas, and use them for ethanol.
Soylent Greening and Bio-Massing the deceased? Ick!
Just bury them really deep (say 5000 feet) and then let the pressure of the earth liquify and convert it to petroleum like it did to the king lizards “back in the day”!
In 10,000 years we’ll have more oil – a renewable energy source!
In 10,000 years we’ll have more oil – a renewable energy source!
Good thinking, but it would be more like 100 million years.
Hat’s off to GM and Coskata for pursuing a non corn-based ethanol solution.
I’ve been following this for years since GM and Coskata announced this, great news to finally see it. I design Waste Water and Water Treatment plants for a living, Civil Engineer, this would be a great thing to work on. Exceptional work GM and Coskata
Congratulations to all at Coskata and GM. As good as it looks now, I am sure the efficiency and flexibility of this process will increase as you scale up and go into production and as improvements are made. Faster, faster !
I hope not too long after 2012 GM will go to 100% E85 in the fleet as this Coskata process proves a winner and E85 is becomes available in more parts of the country. One of the many beautiful things about this technology is that ethanol can be made close to the east and west coast cities where the garbage, old tires and construction waste are plentiful. Not just in the corn belt.
GM needs to produce all new gasoline vehicles as flex fuel.
LEAD the way for flex fuel vehicles.
Second generation ethanol is here.
More fueling stations are offering E85.
Give consumers a choice at the pump.
Energy Security is National Security
Sweet! This is an awesome video and very informative. I don’t understand why automakers just to go this route all the way.
why does not GM work on natural gas powered vehicles? it is plentiful and with a compressor you can refuel over night at home as many homes have natural gas. i know the state and federal govt would have a problem collecting the taxes but that is their problem to solve. there are natural gas pipe lines everywhere so building filling stations should not be a problem like hydrogen would. even ethanol can not be pipe lined and the added cost of rail or trucking it to the fuel depots adds to the costs
Good point Motorman. GM should be working on both internal combustion engines that use LPG or CNG, and methane fuel cells that use natural gas.
As you point out, we already have an infrastructure for distributing natural gas, and using that fuel would avoid the daunting problems and expense of needing to build a hydrogen infrastructure from scratch.
The natural gas solution is staring them right in the face, while they use their valuable and limited R&D resources on the more exotic and expensive hydrogen solution.