AE Biofuels opened its integrated cellulosic ethanol commercial demonstration facility in Butte, Montana yesterday (11th August). According to the company, the Butte plant is one of the first such cellulosic demonstration plants in the United States, and the first to integrate the use of both cellulose and starch based feedstocks, the 9,000 square foot demonstration facility is now operational.

The company went on to explain that the plant uses ambient temperature enzymes for converting cellulose and starch to fermentable sugars to optimize process conditions for multiple feedstocks. Non-food ethanol feedstocks used at the facility include switch grass, grass seed straw, small grain straw, sugarcane bagasse, and corn stalks either alone or in combination with a variety of traditional starch and sugar sources such as corn, wheat, barley, and sugarcane. By utilizing multiple feedstocks, sa7ys the company, it can produce ethanol through a cellulose only or cellulose / starch combination, thus reducing the risk of commodity availability and pricing uncertainty.

"The Department of Energy is committed to developing clean, renewable, and sustainable biofuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase America's energy security. We must have a broad range of technologies, including cellulosic biofuels that use non-food based feedstocks, to address our energy challenges," said Paul Dickerson, Chief Operating Officer of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy who attended the opening.

According to the company the demonstration plant has been set up to address challenges currently facing domestic ethanol production. The company's ambient temperature enzyme technology, it says, significantly reduces the consumption of energy and water in the production of ethanol.

AE Biofuels Chairman and CEO Eric McAfee said, "We believe the powerful combination of our Ambient Temperature Enzyme technology, access to multiple feedstocks, and reduced energy and water consumption place us at the very leading edge of next-generation ethanol. Combined with our biodiesel production, AE Biofuels is well positioned to lead the vertical integration of the biofuels industry."