Fox Valley: Company developing fuel for future

Company developing fuel for future
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Courier News on 01/27/2011 14:43:00

In only a few short years, it could be fueling cars and trucks while producing
90 percent less greenhouse gas, providing energy security for the nation, and
creating high-tech jobs in the Naperville area. It’s a process that turns
cellulose, the leftovers of agriculture and forestry, into ethanol. And because
of a $250 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture
announced last week, it will be a Warrenville-based company that brings the new
technology to the mass market.

“It’s a radical thought that you could start with  trash and be able to make
cost-effective non-grain-based biofuels,” said  Wes Bolsen, chief marketing
officer and vice president of government  affairs for Coskata. “Coskata can
take in anything from wood chips or  leftover agricultural waste or trash and
convert that directly into a  fuel which will compete head-to-head with gas.”
The company incorporated in 2006, its scientists  working out of Argonne
National Laboratory. In 2007, Coskata moved its  national headquarters,
including its research and development operation,  to Warrenville, a decision
based on the brain power available in the  tech corridor. The company employs
about 60 microbiologists, chemical  engineers and other Ph.D.-level researchers.
Those scientists are working to take their  trademarked FlexEthanol to
commercial scale. Unlike regular ethanol,  which makes up 85 percent of the E-85
fuel used in FlexFuel vehicles and  is made almost entirely from corn,
FlexEthanol can be produced from  just about any biomass — the stalks of corn,
the bark from trees, even  garbage.
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