A 20-year feedstock procurement contract has been signed by NextStep Biofuels, Inc., an Omaha-based cellulosic ethanol development company, with Arkansas-based wood processing giant The Price Companies. The contract calls for The Price Companies to supply NextStep annually with up to 500,000 tons of woodchips, bark, pulpwood and other tree-based waste products for conversion into cellulosic ethanol.

"There are three key pieces to the cellulosic puzzle: technology, feedstocks and operations," explains NextStep President Kevin Dretzka. "There are a lot of sharp companies out there with viable cellulosic technologies, but that doesn't mean they know how to secure price-stable access to feedstocks, identify and permit sites in strategic locations or cost-effectively build and operate bio-refineries."

NextStep Biofuels carefully matches the right technology with the right feedstock. "The technology that is best for woodchips is not the technology that is best for switchgrass or corn stover," explains NextStep COO Russ Zeeck. "We license the most appropriate technology for a given site and feedstock."

NextStep is currently evaluating sites in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas where The Price Companies' feedstocks will be processed.

"As a company that processes a huge supply of feedstock, we're impressed with NextStep's focus on economically commercializing cellulosic technology," said The Price Companies CEO Dick Carmical. "NextStep ‘gets' that technology is just one step on the path to profitable production."

Cost-effective cellulosic production has, to date, proved elusive. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) calls for the production of 1 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol by 2013. Most experts agree that the goal will not be achieved.

"The problem in meeting the EISA production requirements has much less to do with available, viable technology and far more to do with profitably implementing the technology," said Dretzka. "The many brilliant scientists inventing ways to turn agricultural and industrial waste into fuel need seasoned operators and facility developers to achieve commercial-scale production and deliver bottom-line results."