September 15, 2005
Renewable Energy Duo Lauded for Biomass Development
New York and Golden, Colorado [RenewableEnergyAccess.com]
Xethanol and the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory have received a regional award from the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer recognizing its clean fractionation of biomass.
The process separates corn, wheat, oat hulls, and waste from cotton into pure streams of value-added chemicals such as lignin, cellulose and dissolved sugars. These pure streams can be used to produce chemical products needed by industry.
"We expect to be able to apply this clean fractionation technology in the future which will make a great contribution to the realization of Xethanol's goals of low-cost ethanol production from biomass," said Christopher d'Arnaud Taylor, Xethanol chairman and CEO.
Clean fractionation involves separating organic material into value-added chemicals. National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) researchers in the National Bioenergy Center created the technology and process to separate organic materials such as corn, wheat, oat hulls, and waste from cotton and other lignocellulosic material, into pure streams of value-added chemicals such as lignin, cellulose and dissolved sugars (hemicellulose). These pure streams can be used to produce chemical products for pulp and paper, chemical, food, and packaging industries.
Xethanol, a biotechnology-driven ethanol production company, converts biomass that is abandoned or land-filled into ethanol and other co-products.
NREL is a primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development.