Verenium Commissions Louisiana Cellulosic Ethanol Plant: $1.34/gallon target price

[HoosierRon]

Verenium Begins Commissioning of Nation's First Cellulosic Ethanol Demonstration-Scale Plant

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Verenium Corporation (Nasdaq: VRNM), a pioneer in the development of next-generation cellulosic ethanol and high-performance specialty enzymes, announced today that it has begun the commissioning phase at its demonstration-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Jennings, Louisiana.
...
Start-up activities will continue as the facility transitions into a comprehensive commissioning phase allowing the Company to evaluate its process for making ethanol at scale and validate cost and performance assumptions to prepare for the development of its first series of commercial plants. This phase puts Verenium on track for its goal of beginning construction in the middle of next year on a 30 million-gallon-per-year commercial plant, which will be the first of its kind, located in the southeastern United States.

In a briefing with analysts and investors, Verenium said that it was expecting a production cost of $1.34/gallon for its first-generation technology.
...
The key element of Celunol’s technology was genetically engineered Escherichia coli bacteria that can ferment both C6 (hexose) and C5 (pentose) sugars present in cellulosic biomass.

Professor Lonnie Ingram at the University of Florida, from which Celunol licensed its technology, modified the E. coli—which could use both 5- and 6-carbon sugars, but produced very little ethanol, with the ethanol-producing capabilities of Zymomonas mobilis. Z. mobilis is a good ethanol producer that is highly alcohol-resistant, but is also very sensitive to its environment, is not very hardy, and can mostly use only glucose.

source

[SRX7697]

production cost of 1.34, but what does that translate to in retail price?

[HoosierRon]

Originally Posted by SRX7697

production cost of 1.34, but what does that translate to in retail price?

Less than $4.00.

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Originally Posted by HoosierRon

Less than $4.00.

Not necessarily...

[tgagneguam]

...We went ahead and deleted all the other pathways [succinic acid, lactic acid, formate, acetate, CO2 and hydrogen] so that the only pathway our organisms have to grow under anaerobic conditions is to make ethanol. If they grow, they must make ethanol. If they grow faster, they must make ethanol faster. If they grow to higher densities, they must make more ethanol...

Science is so great! Smart people doing smart things.

[Clownzilla]

Originally Posted by Smaart Aas Saabr

Not necessarily...

It will not matter if it's under $4 or not (even though I think it will be significantly lower) for two reasons:

1. Real competition creates lower prices. Face it, if car makers get behind this and more organic material growers and factories get online along with a good infrastructure then oil will have the competition the free world is craving. There is NO WAY oil can demand these current prices if every car built gives a person a choice of more than oil.

2. Better energy independence will keep the speculators at bay.

We have to realize that ethanol should not be looked at from strictly a price standpoint but as a tool to make our economy work more efficiently and properly.

[jkennedy293]

We need to start creating outlets for ethanol so more consumers have a choice.

[HoosierRon]

Originally Posted by jkennedy293

We need to start creating outlets for ethanol so more consumers have a choice.

YOU can buy E85 here:

Cruizers #20
1914 Sedwick Rd. & Hwy. 55
Durham, NC 27713
919-806-3458

[FordMan]

Ha thats funny i was born in Jennings, Louisiana....

[DemonKnightDK]

I would buy E85 if I could afford a car than can run on it. (I dont want a used Taurus...)

[377Z]

Originally Posted by Clownzilla

It will not matter if it's under $4 or not (even though I think it will be significantly lower) for two reasons:

1. Real competition creates lower prices. Face it, if car makers get behind this and more organic material growers and factories get online along with a good infrastructure then oil will have the competition the free world is craving. There is NO WAY oil can demand these current prices if every car built gives a person a choice of more than oil.

2. Better energy independence will keep the speculators at bay.

We have to realize that ethanol should not be looked at from strictly a price standpoint but as a tool to make our economy work more efficiently and properly.

I think you are exactly right, however I hope that if oil prices collapse, the available alternatives' costs are not so high as to render said alternatives no longer economically viable. Tool or not, the most guys at the gas station will pick the less expensive fuel by nature.

I wonder how this compares to what it costs to produce a gallon of gas. Better yet, I wonder what the costs are to get both fuels all the way to the pump.

& for fvcks sake GM & Ford, SPREAD FLEX-FUEL TECHNOLOGY ACROSS YOUR LINEUPS ALREADY!!!

[Raskolnikov]

"& for fvcks sake GM & Ford, SPREAD FLEX-FUEL TECHNOLOGY ACROSS YOUR LINEUPS ALREADY!!! "

Agreed. I'd love to buy a used Cobalt sedan with E85 capability.

It's $2.79/gal @ my corner station while gas.....is.....way to flippin expensive!!

[TORRED1]

Originally Posted by Raskolnikov

"& for fvcks sake GM & Ford, SPREAD FLEX-FUEL TECHNOLOGY ACROSS YOUR LINEUPS ALREADY!!! "

Agreed. I'd love to buy a used Cobalt sedan with E85 capability.

It's $2.79/gal @ my corner station while gas.....is.....way to flippin expensive!!

I wish that was the case around here, E85 is staying within .40 of regular gas. Keeping the price point to justify it just beyond reach. Company won't go for it, in my E85 caravan. Now at 1.20 gal cheaper, a case could be made for it.

[HoosierRon]

Originally Posted by TORRED1

I wish that was the case around here, E85 is staying within .40 of regular gas. Keeping the price point to justify it just beyond reach. Company won't go for it, in my E85 caravan. Now at 1.20 gal cheaper, a case could be made for it.

In Lititz, Pennsylvania, E85 is 25% cheaper than gasoline. http://e85prices.com/pennsylvania/lititz.html

[CaptainDan]

Originally Posted by 377Z

I think you are exactly right, however I hope that if oil prices collapse, the available alternatives' costs are not so high as to render said alternatives no longer economically viable. Tool or not, the most guys at the gas station will pick the less expensive fuel by nature.

I wonder how this compares to what it costs to produce a gallon of gas. Better yet, I wonder what the costs are to get both fuels all the way to the pump.

& for fvcks sake GM & Ford, SPREAD FLEX-FUEL TECHNOLOGY ACROSS YOUR LINEUPS ALREADY!!!

E85 capable vehicles are a good thing, but they are still optimized to run on gasoline. They are designed to just ACCEPT E85 without damaging components, and without degrading fuel economy "too much".

I long for the day when we can get vehicles optimized for E85. With the higher compression ratios possible (105+ octane,baby!), they would be more powerful, and fuel efficiency would be improved. But I'm not sure they'd run well (or run at all) with "mere" gasoline then.