Dive summary:
- Fulcrum BioEnergy has received $175 million to fund construction of its first municipal solid waste to low-carbon fuels plant in Nevada.
- Most of the money, $105 million, comes from a USDA loan guarantee while other contributors include the US Renewables Group and Rustic Canyon Partners.
- Last year the project was estimated to cost $120 million but the expected price rose to $180 million this year, while construction costs are rising, Fulcrum says they are developing technology to make the operating costs substantially less.
From the article:
The company said that the Sierra BioFuels Plant will use sorted, post-recycled MSW and convert it into ethanol using a two-step process which consists of gasification followed by alcohol synthesis. The plant also produces enough energy to power the process.
Fulcrum added that it engineering and technology teams have recently made numerous enhancements to the design of the Sierra facility and to its proprietary MSW to ethanol process.
According to the company these improvements will dramatically reduce its cost to produce renewable fuel to less than $0.75 per gallon at plant, down from approximately $1.25 per gallon as previously disclosed. ...
