General Motors Teams with Innovative Biofuel Technology Start-Up Coskata

Ethanol has been playing a growing role in replacing gasoline as a fuel for motorized vehicles. In North America, corn is a major source of ethanol, while in South America, sugar crops supply the raw material. General Motors partnership with innovative start-up Coskata, Inc. is expected to open the door to a new and important method of ethanol production using trash, garbage and agricultural by-products.

Coskata's technology is important to GM and to the market in general because it uses advanced techniques to extract ethanol from refuse including, they say, old tires, garbage and plant waste. A proprietary process including "patented microorganisms and bioreactor designs" according to Coskata's press release allows them to generate ethanol out of these varied materials, and also, they say, requires significantly less water - less than a gallon of water per gallon of ethanol, compared with three or more times that for other processes. The estimated cost to produce a gallon is under $1.

GM is well positioned to work with Coskata, since they already have provided millions of ethanol-capable Flex-Fuel Vehicles to the U.S. and international markets which use 85% or more ethanol to operate. In Brazil, GM vehicles run on pure ethanol derived from local sugar crops, used since 1975 in a growing effort for the country to become energy self-sufficient.

GM's targets for ethanol-capable vehicles include raising production of such vehicles in the U.S. from 400,000 to 800,000 over the next few years. They already produce a million annually on a global basis, according to their press release announcing the Coskata partnership.

While conventional vehicles, according to information from the Colorado Governor's Office, can run on up to 10% ethanol mixed with gasoline, Flex Fuel Vehicles commonly run on 85% or more. Damage can result to non-FFV vehicles using a mixture with a high percentage of ethanol. The introduction of increased numbers of vehicles modified with FFV technology is creating enough demand that hundreds of E85-mix pumping stations are available in areas of the country including Colorado, and more are appearing on a regular basis.

Demand for the raw materials involved in ethanol production is a factor in the economics of alternative fuels. Reports have indicated that demand for grains other than corn has shifted because more corn is being diverted to ethanol production. While farmers are planting larger amounts of corn, do so will only be able to replace a small portion of the gasoline used in the U.S.

Debate over greenhouse emissions, summarized in this article, has suggested that sugar, used in South America, produces ethanol which is more environmentally friendly. Corn is said to be lower quality when considering greenhouse gas emissions, and cellulose such as in the Coskata process is also under research. These results are being actively debated, so companies such as GM are choosing to take action and pursue a direction away from fossil fuels using ethanol as a practical replacement while the debate continues.

Some say that replacing gasoline with ethanol is not the long-term answer, with biodiesel a prime candidate instead. Already, biodiesel is actively used in commercial vehicles in some parts of the country. The GM partnership has potential to address the U.S.'s present needs, and Coskata's technology has many more environmental benefits than most ethanol production techniques.

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