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Texas Plant to Test Ethanol 

 Breakthrough 



t 



Deep in the heart of Texas 

 oil country, there's a project that 

 could sharply reduce the 

 need for oil while creating thou- 

 sands of new jobs throughout 

 rural America. If California- 

 based Arkenol Inc. is right, its 

 prototype plant in Texas will 

 convert a wide variety of woody 

 materials such as perennial grasses, plant 

 stalks and waste paper into a low-cost, 

 renewable source for ethanol. 



To prove that its new technology 

 works on a commercial scale, Arkenol is 

 committing $4.4 miDion to modernize a 

 mothballed ethanol plant in Ft. Worth, Texas. 

 The refit will bring the plant's grain-to- 

 ethanol processing up to today's standards, 

 and add the equipment needed to convert 

 woody "biomass" to ethanol. Of the $44 

 million, $7 million represents the estimated 

 costs to commercially demonstrate the pro- 

 prietary technology to convert switchgrass, 

 grain sorghum stalks and other lignocellu- 

 losic material to ethanol. 



The project's prospects for creating 

 rural employment and a less-polluting, 

 crop-derived alternative to gasoline natu- 

 rally attracted the interest of the Alternative 

 Agricultural Research and Commerciahzation 

 (AARC) Center a branch of the U.S. 

 Department of Agriculture. To supplement 

 Arkenol 's own $7 million commitment to 

 "biomass-to-ethanol," the AARC Center is 

 investing $ 1 million that will be repaid out of 

 Arkenol's future profits. 



Ethanol already has become an impor- 

 tant octane-boosting, emissions-reducing 

 gasoline additive. Currently, corn is the pre- 

 dominant feedstock for ethanol production. Since the nation's need for ethanol is expected to increase 

 steadily to comply with the strict emissions standards set by the 1 990 Clean Air Act, research has focused 

 on developing a range of alternative sources for ethanol production. Biomass converted with the Arkenol 

 process (using acid to convert cellulose into sugars that are then fermented and distilled to produce 

 ethanol) could play an important part in meeting the need for increased ethanol production while at the 

 same time putting marginal croplands to productive use. 



luusuaiio" Dv Ed COiffnc* 



ARKENOL Inc., CA 



Sponsor's Contact: Mark Carver, (714) 588-3767 

 Raw Material; Switchgrass or Grain Sorghum 



Product: Fuel Ethanol 



AARC: $1 ,000,000 



Cooperators Contributions (est.): $7,000,000 



USDA-AARC CENTER • 12th & C St. S.W. • Washington, DC 20250 

 Telephone: (202) 401-4860 • Fax: (202) 401-6068 



Printed on recycled paper using soybean based ink 



