Aemetis takes a new step to build a cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in California



Aemetis continues to take steps to construct a cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in California. In early August, the California-based company signed an agreement with exclusive rights for the use of the advanced gasification technology of InEnTec (see Blog post, 07/08/2017) and announced that it had started to produce cellulosic ethanol from orchard waste in an integrated demo unit (Aemetis press release on 07/08/2017 has been removed from the web page but the information can be found in this article of Ethanol Producer Magazine).

The facility is located at InEnTec’s Technology Center in Richland (Washington) and was built to showcase cellulosic ethanol production through the integration of advanced gasification from InEnTec with patented microbial fermentation from LanzaTech. It will serve as a basis for a full-scale biorefinery which will be built in Riverbank (California). According to a recent press release, Aemetis Advanced Products Keyes (subsidiary of Aemetis) has signed a 55 year lease at a former US Army munitions facility located at that locality. It is near the existing Aemetis biofuels plant in Keyes (production capacity: 60 million gallon per year of ethanol).

Figure 1. Aemetis biofuels plant in Keyes (extracted from the web page of the company). The cellulosic ethanol biorefinery will be located at Riverbank close to Keyes.

Project factsheet
Location
Riverbank (California).
Technologies
Gasification: InEnTec.
Fermentation: Lanzatech.
Feedstocks
Orchard waste and nutshells.
The Central Valley of California produces more than 1.6 million tons of waste orchard wood and nutshells each year from approximately 1 million acres of almond, walnut and pistachio orchards.
Products and production capacity
Cellulosic ethanol.
Phase 1: 10 million gallons.
Final target: 40 million gallons.
Employment effect
1,900 direct and indirect jobs.

Popular Posts

Biofuels from algae

Hidrotratamiento (HVO) – Conceptos, materias primas y especificaciones

Biorrefinerías de ácido levulínico

Etanol celulósico – Lo básico: Conceptos y materias primas

Gasificación de licor negro: El caso de Chemrec y la LTU