General Motors thinks biofuels are rubbish
Author: Robin Brown
Published: 15 January 2008
General Motors has announced a deal to produce the biofuel ethanol from household and industrial waste, in a move it says could reduce carbon dioxide emissions from internal combustion engines by 84% and halve fuel costs.
GM has inked a deal with Coskata, which has developed a process to derive cellulosic ethanol from household waste, wood, plastic bottles and old tyres using bacteria.
The two companies believe the process is cleaner than using crops - with one study claiming that study cellulosic ethanol up to 90% less greenhouse gas than petrol and 30% cheaper to produce.
The company says it can turn four tyres into seven gallons of ethanol and two bales of hay into five gallons for under $1 per gallon.
The company says it can convert the waste into carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are then broken down by bacteria into ethanol, using uses less energy and water than other ethanol processes.
GM is hoping to increase the use of E85 ethanol (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% petrol) to boost the E85 infrastructure and reduce carbon emissions from vehicles in the US. Currently only 1,400 out of 170,00 US petrol stations dispense E85.
"There are six million vehicles on the US roads made by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler that are E85 compatible," says GM´s CEO Rick Wagoner, "and if they were to use E85 they would reduce America´s consumption of petroleum by 29 billion gallons, or 18%."
Most cars require small modifications before being E85 compatible, but the modifications cost less than £50 ($100).
Coskata will launch of a pilot refinery producing 40,000 gallons annually in 2008, with a larger facility following by 2010.
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