BlueFire project advances in DOE loan process

July 15, 2010

BY Holly Jessen

Posted July 19, 2010

A company working to build a cellulosic ethanol facility in Fullton, Miss., has met the requirements of Phase I of the U.S. DOE loan guarantee program and has announced it will move on to Phase II. BlueFire Ethanol Fuels Inc. has applied for a $230 million DOE loan guarantee, which will be used with a previously awarded $88 million dollar grant and other sources to finance the project. The company wants to build a 19 MMgy facility to produce cellulosic ethanol from woody biomass, mill residue, and other cellulosic waste.

"The project is ready to proceed to commercialization," CEO Arnold Klann told EPM.

The company is targeting cellulosic waste materials traditionally disposed of in landfills as feedstock . It plans to utilize a patented and commercially ready technology called a Concentrated Acid Hydrolysis Technology Process. BlueFire has data on output, costs and demonstrated yield for the Fulton project and is in the advanced development stage with permitting and engineering, he said.

BlueFire Ethanol is simultaneously working towards building a second cellulosic ethanol plant near Lancaster, Calif. Klann didn't give target completion dates for either plant, telling EPM that progress will depend on financing at each location. "We are currently evaluating all options and looking for strategic personnel to help BlueFire successfully close the financing for Fulton and other future facilities," he said.

Acquiring funding for these projects is key. "Without some form of loan guarantee, either from DOE or USDA, the project will not get financed," Klann said. "The debt markets will not take first-of-a-kind risk without some back stop given the revised financial laws put in place by the Obama Administration after the collateralized debt obligations debacle in 2008."

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