Pedro42

Biofuel Industry Won't Meet Government Production Targets After All

There is new technology to convert black liquor from pulp mills to synthesis gas (syngas) and further to methanol, DME or synthetic diesel.
Black liquor is the combined by-products, such as lignines, extracted from the wood that is fed in to a paper and pulp mill. It is burned today with an energy efficiency of 20%. By converting it to syngas the energy efficiency becomes 70%. There is enough black liquor in North America to make 10 billion gallons of methanol. The cost is lower than for sugar cane ethanol. Methanol and ethanol are very similar in performance and can be mixed in gasoline. Solid biomass can also be gasified albeit at a higher cost but still competitive with ethanol production. The EIA should not discount this source for biofuels.

Three Things Obama Will Do to Advance Alternative Energy

Don't discount solid biomass. It's readily available and can be gasified to make methanol, DME, synthetic diesel and many other products at costs equivalent to sugar cane ethanol.