BP Ending Cellulosic Ethanol Production in the U.S.?

From an article by Jim Lane, released online today in Biofuels Digest, "BP announced it is canceling plans to build a 36 million gallon commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Highlands County, Florida. The company said that it would refocus its US biofuels strategy on Research & Developement, as well as licensing its industry–leading biofuels technology.

“Given the large and growing portfolio of investment opportunities available to BP globally, we believe it is in the best interest of our shareholders to redeploy the considerable capital required to build this facility into other more attractive projects,” said Geoff Morrell, BP vice president of communications.

BP originally announced plans to build the Florida facility in 2008 with the intention of turning thousands of acres of energy crops into 36 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol.

While BP did not directly comment on its plans to build a second, 72 million gallon plant in the southeastern US by 2017, the company, in a statement, said that was “ending its pursuit of commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol production in the US.”

Read the entire article in Biofuels Digest.

Arundo donax, Giant reed: one of the invasive plants being considered as a biofuel crop
Image by: Chuck Bargeron, University of Georgia, Bugwood.org