The biofuel debate is fierce, with some saying crops for biofuel use up food crop space and others saying that biofuel is the only way to get around reliance on oil. But within the next two years, two different companies are getting around the argument, introducing another biofuel option, which would turn garbage into gas.
Two companies, INEOS bio of Lyndhurst, U.K., and Coskata of Warrenville, Ill. have announced that they will soon be able to produce ethanol from garbage on a commercial scale.
INEOS bio has a two year plan for being able to commercially produce biofuel from waste, while Coskata is working on having a facility ready for demonstration by the middle of next year.
Both companies have similar plans for turning garbage into gas, beginning with gasification. Gasification occurs by heating the waste with limited amounts of oxygen to create carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
Incinerating garbage completely produces carbon dioxide and water, explains INEOS bio's Graham Rice, with the gasification, "We're trying to go halfway and produce carbon monoxide, which still has a lot of chemical energy."
The carbon monoxide and hydrogen mixture is then fed to bacteria, which convert the mixture into ethanol. The ethanol is then purified and blended with fuel.
The process uses any form of carbon waste, from tires to biomass, which gets around the controversial matter of using crops for biofuel instead of food.
Coskata’s Wes Bolsen also says the process uses less than half of the water used to convert corn into ethanol. Both companies say the cost is less than other biofuel methods that have been explored thus far.
"Wherever there are people, wastes are generated," Rice said. "What I'd like to see is every community converting its waste into renewable transport fuel."
www.WeEarth.com
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