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Mascoma, Chevron Sign Cellulosic Ethanol Feedstock Agreement

Mascoma Corporation recently announced that it has entered into a feedstock processing and lignin supply agreement with Chevron Technology Ventures (CTV), a division of Chevron U.S.A., Inc.

Under terms of the agreement, CTV will provide various sources of lignocellulosic feedstock to Mascoma. Mascoma will then convert the feedstock to cellulosic ethanol through its proprietary process, which produces lignin as a by- product. Mascoma will provide this lignin to CTV for evaluation.

Lignin, explains Mascoma, is a complex chemical compound derived from woody biomass. After biomass has been converted through the company's proprietary Consolidated Bio Processing method, which breaks down the sugars in the cellulose and turns it into ethanol, energy-rich lignin is left over.

According to the two companies, the project will last for two years, and Mascoma is hopeful that the developed technology may be suitable for a wide variety of feedstocks.

Mascoma says that, in December 2008, it began creating ethanol from cellulosic biomass with positive results at its demonstration facility in Rome, New York. The company, in collaboration with its commercialization subsidiary Frontier Renewable Resources, is in the process of financing its first full-scale ethanol facility in Kinross, Michigan. The company plans to break ground on that facility during the first half of 2010.

This is the second time in less than a month Chevron has made clean- tech headlines. In Late August, the oil and gas giant tapped BrightSource Energy to build a solar thermal plant at a central California oil field. Chevron is planning to use the solar thermal technology to generate steam, which is then used in the oil extraction process.