Plant will turn waste from pines to ethanol

ATLANTA --- Construction officially started Tuesday on what is expected to be the nation's first plant that will turn waste from the harvesting of pine trees into ethanol car fuel.

• Photos

Associated Press

Gov. Sonny Perdue said the nation's first commercial wood-based ethanol plant "will boost economic development in rural Georgia and reduce the state's dependence on foreign oil."

State and federal energy officials were on hand in rural Treutlen County, about 100 miles west of Savannah, to break ground on Range Fuels Inc.'s cellulosic ethanol plant.

The private, Colorado-based startup hopes to churn out 20 million gallons of fuel a year at the facility in Soperton, Ga., after it's done with the first phase of construction in about a year.

Although there have been several pilot projects working on turning woodsy plants into ethanol, Range Fuels' would be the first commercial operation.

Much of the work in the fledgling biofuels industry nationwide and in Georgia has focused on corn-based ethanol.

Range Fuels' plan is to take advantage of stubby pine trees and branches not used by Georgia's forestry industry to provide the feedstock.

"Range Fuel's production of cellulosic ethanol from wood materials will make Georgia a national leader in innovative alternative energy production," said Gov. Sonny Perdue, who attended the groundbreaking. "This project, and others like it, will boost economic development in rural Georgia and reduce our state's dependence on foreign oil."

Mr. Perdue also announced a marketing initiative to brand Georgia as The Bioenergy Corridor to promote the state's research and private investment efforts in the area.

"Georgia has been working with a number of potential bioenergy businesses within the past year," he said, adding that he hopes to announce more companies in the industry locating to the state.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman also attended Tuesday's ceremony.

Range Fuels received a $76 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for the plant. Fifty million dollars will be used to build the initial phase, with the rest for future expansion.

The plant's investors hope to eventually produce 100 million gallons of ethanol a year.

"The state of Georgia has provided us with an excellent opportunity to locate our first plant using its abundant, renewable forest resources as feedstock," Range Fuels CEO Mitch Mandich said. "Range Fuels' focus on green, renewable energy will ultimately reduce greenhouse gases, promote energy independence and create new jobs."

The company touts the process as more environmentally friendly than corn-based ethanol because it uses a fraction of the water and does not rely on fossil fuels such as natural gas to power the conversion process.

State government and forestry officials have pushed biofuel production heavily in recent years.

This year, the Legislature approved measures giving plant operators tax breaks for building facilities and grants for gas station owners to add E85 fuel pumps that dispense ethanol-blended gasoline for drivers with flex-fuel cars, which can run on either gasoline or the ethanol blend.

For a while, the only public E85 retail pump in Georgia was at a Shell gas station in Perry, but a second one opened Friday in metro Atlanta.

Jill Stuckey, the director of alternative fuels for the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, said there has been strong interest from gas station owners to apply for the grants and begin expanding E85 distribution.

About 6 million flex-fuel vehicles are on the road in the U.S., according to the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition.