The product development phase in cellulosic ethanol research and development is relatively under funded compared to other phases. That is the conclusion of the cellulosic ethanol focused analysis section in the march edition of the Ethanol Statistics – Monthly Market review.
The analysis identifies roughly three development stages prior to commercial-scale production: (1) Basic discovery and R&D, (2) Product development and (3) Pilot/Demonstration plants. Figure 1 visualizes the funding gap that has developed over the last few years.
Nicknamed by Edenspace CEO Bruce Ferguson as the “Valley of Death” for cellulosic ethanol, this funding gap could slow down the introduction of lower-cost production technologies.
Additional funds, both public and private are needed to develop new crop feedstocks, new enzymes, new fermentation organisms, and new by-products corresponding to DDGS from grain ethanol.
Besides the discussion of potential funding gaps, the analysis section of the Monthly Market Review also provides a discussion of the legislative developments by region, a forecast of cellulosic ethanol production in 2020 and an analysis of the economics of cellulosic ethanol. Final feature of the analysis section is a world wide cellulosic ethanol plant list, sorted by region.
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