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Iowa ethanol plant converts to turn trash into biofuel

A converted corn ethanol plant near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has started producing its biofuel from waste material from a nearby paper mill.

Maryland-based company Fiberight LLC has been developing its process to turn organic waste into ethanol for six years, and now the technology has transferred from its pilot plant in Virginia to a fullscale facility in Blairstown, Iowa.

Using enzyme-based digestion and fermentation processes, the facility is using waste from International Paper’s papermill in Cedar River to produce cellulosic ethanol.

Fiberight has budgeted $25 million to fully convert the Blairstown plant to produce up to 6 million gallons a year of renewable cellulosic ethanol when full capacity is reached some time in 2011.

“You can’t just back up a trash truck to a corn ethanol plant and expect fuel to come out the other end,” said Fiberight CEO Craig Stuart-Paul.

“We undertook extensive modifications to the plant to incorporate our proprietary digestion and fermentation techniques, as well as processes to help convert organic pulps into cellulosic sugars. I’m very pleased to say that these processes worked extremely well, and hats off to our engineering team, APS Engineering, for making this a reality.”

International Paper

International Paper’s Cedar River facility produces 50,000 tons of organic waste a year as it recycles paper into cardboard. Since paper can only be recycled only so many times, older fibers come out of the production process and had previously been used as a low-grade fertilizer at a cost to the paper company.

Since the beginning of this month, the material has been diverted to the Blairstown plant.

Tom Olstad, operations manager at International Paper’s Cedar River mill, said: “Through Fiberight’s new facility, we can now be assured that whatever recycled fiber can’t be made into new packaging can be used to create green energy, while helping us offset our disposal costs.”

Fiberight said yesterday that its technology can separate residential trash to recover organic materials that could be made into ethanol – or “trashanol”, as the firm has dubbed the fuel.

It is planning to introduce residential trash to the Blairstown plant later this month, and has developed technology to make use of other fractions of the waste.

Mr Stuart-Paul said his company’s process reduced carbon emissions by more than 80% compared with gasoline fuel.

The company says it avoids the “food versus fuel debate” by using organic waste to produce its biofuel.