AETE Announces U.S. $1 Ethanol - Is this real?

[philb]

AETE Announces U.S. $1 Ethanol March 19, 2008

Houston, United States

The Alternative Energy Technology Center, Inc. has announced its plans to produce ethanol for the U.S. market for less than US $1 per gallon. AETE plans to refine cellulose biomass into fuel products using its proprietary technology

Most new automobiles built in the U.S. are equipped to run on 85% ethanol. To fuel these cars ethanol is set to expand significantly. With corn prices at more than US $5 per bushel, current plants spend nearly US $2 to produce a gallon of ethanol that sells for US $2.60.

“One dollar ethanol will allow us to operate profitably without government subsidies or incentives,” said Brown Marks, AETE’s president. “We expect to produce over 100 gallons of fuel per ton of cellulosic biomass, which costs about US $65 in today’s market...We use a low energy input design to increase efficiency and we can place our plants wherever there is abundant biomass available

[tinrobot]

1. It would be better than corn...

Better to produce the fuel from grass than from food, but I still worry about the impact on the land.

[BR_Parkway]

3. I always wondered why they didn't use the corn stalks instead of the

corn - that seems to make more sense to me.

[gear_head]

2. would be nice, if true n/t

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. Alternative Energy Technology Center Announces Cellulosic Ethanol Breakthrough

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Alternative_Energy_Technology_Center_Announces_Cellulosic_Ethanol_Breakthrough_999.html

Alternative Energy Technology Center Announces Cellulosic Ethanol Breakthrough

by Staff Writers
Houston TX (SPX) Feb 26, 2008
The Alternative Energy Technology Center announced that it completed the initial design phase of its Cellulosic Ethanol - Esterified Lignin to Gasoline Unit. This vertically integrated biorefining unit will take advantage of proprietary technology using flexible feedstocks such as forestry waste, dedicated feedstock grasses, sawdust, sorghum and corn stover.

"AETC's integrated technologies provide the ability to convert cheap, abundant cellulosic plant material into a variety of fuel products that will allow us to efficiently address a part of America's energy needs," stated Brown Marks, President and CEO. "America's energy future must be built on renewable fuels that can be produced at a lower cost and the company's vertically integrated biorefining technology delivers the answer to this pressing need," he concluded.

Building on its recent acquisition of Meridian Biorefining, Inc., AETC expects to extend the Cellulosic Ethanol - and Esterified Lignin to Gasoline Unit with a fully functional BioCrude Process Unit. The combination of these proprietary technologies will produce the first fully functioning commercial biorefinery in the U.S. in 2009. Oil is refined using distillation, fractionation and cracking units. AETC uses a sophisticated, energy efficient system to process biomass in a bio-aerosol form into a wide range of transportation fuels, lubricants, and chemical co-products.

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Alternative Energy Technology Center Acquires Meridian Biorefining, Inc.

http://www.chemicalonline.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID=%7B6CFCE03D-ECE2-40AA-88E9-FDEB0B5C0B75%7D&Bucket=Current+Headlines&VNETCOOKIE=NO

Alternative Energy Technology Center Acquires Meridian Biorefining, Inc.

2/11/2008

Houston, TX - The Alternative Energy Technology Center, Inc. announced recently that it has acquired Meridian Biorefining, Inc. Meridian�s vertically integrated biorefining system focuses on using non-food cellulosic feedstocks to produce ethanol, gasoline, and biocrude which can be further processed to produce a wide range of transportation fuels, chemicals, and other compounds.

Most other biofuels companies use single product processes designed to produce end products such as ethanol or biodiesel. Meridian’s technology is built on the vertically integrated processing model of petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants. The entire value of its biological feedstocks is used to produce a wide range of end products, the production of which is determined by seasonal and market driven demands. This maximizes output, eliminates waste products and increases the profitability of the refining operation.

Meridian utilizes a flex-feed biorefining model that can accept a variety of cellulosic feedstocks depending on market conditions, geographic availability and changes in pricing structure. Meridian’s technology advances the alternative fuels and chemical production industry to a “bio-equivalent” of the traditional petroleum refining industry, with the notable exception that facilities can be decentralized and located near sources of feedstock.

“The acquisition of Meridian advances our work at the Alternative Energy Technology Center by bringing us cutting edge cellulosic processing technology,” explained Brown Marks, CEO of AETE. “We expect to complete our commercial scale research facility in the first quarter and be ready to begin producing biofuels during the second quarter of this year,” he noted. “Meridian’s technology will make the processing of cellulose into fuels far more cost effective than any current technical models in development,” he predicted.

...

[OKIsItJustMe]

6. Breakthrough in cellulose technology claimed by Gulf Ethanol

http://www.biofuelreview.com/content/view/1372/5/

Breakthrough in cellulose technology claimed by Gulf Ethanol

Written by Giles Clark, London
Wednesday, 12 December 2007

Gulf Ethanol Corporation, revealed details of, what it claims, is a breakthrough in cellulose processing technology today in Houston. The company has recently acquired an exclusive license to the vortex implosion disintegrator technology developed by Meridian BioRefining

This high velocity, high pressure process can, says the company, turn biomass into an easily processable cellulose powder in 5-10 seconds. Using extreme compression and sudden polarity shifts, this process uses molecular repulsion to create powdered cellulose. Gulf’s material has been shown to have significant processing advantages in the production of ethanol.

“Cellulose is the most abundant plant material on earth,” noted JT Cloud, Gulf Ethanol’s President. “By replacing more expensive food crops with cellulose as the basic feed-stock for ethanol production, we believe the price of ethanol can be reduced as its availability increases,” he explained. “We expect to work with existing plant owners to deliver cellulosic processing technology as well as building new cellulosic new ethanol plants,” he concluded.