Whats the difference between cellulosic ethanol and regular ethanol?
Think of it as the difference between single-grain and multigrain bread. Regular ethanol is made from whole grains like corn or wheat, and this is where cellulosic ethanol has the advantage. It can be made from a much wider range of material — most often from leftover agricultural and forestry waste, such as cereal straws, corn stalks, sawdust, and paper pulp — and the feedstocks can be combined. Most of the regular ethanol sold in the United States is made from corn, but, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, corn can supply only about 10 percent of the country’s needs. By contrast, there is enough plant biomass for cellulosic ethanol production in the United States to displace 40 percent of the country’s current gasoline consumption. How does Iogen make cellulosic ethanol? The wheat, oat, and barley straw is first pretreated. Iogen’s patented enzyme — an active protein made from a fungus — breaks the cellulose down into sugars, which are then fermented and purified into eth
