Lower capacity but advanced product for new ethanol plant owner

US-based Advanced Biofuels has purchased an ethanol plant in Washington and plans to update the facility’s technology.

The 7 million gallons a year plant, located at Moses Lake, will be retrofitted and new pre-treatment process equipment is to be added. This will bring the capacity of the plant down to 6 million gallons but upgrade the product to advanced ethanol.

AB VP Rhys Dale has been quoted as saying the company ‘expects to produce 5 million gallons of celluslosic ethanol from wheat straw and 1 million for waste alcohol’.

The additional biomass technology is to be supplied by BPI, which itself begun developing cellulosic processes 15 years ago.