Cellulosic ethanol plant opens in Nevada

DuPont on Friday marked the opening of what it is calling the world's largest cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada.

After it is operating at full capacity next year, the $225 million plant will produce 30 million gallons of ethanol annually from cornstalks, leaves and cobs left in fields after the grain harvest.

Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont will get the corn stover from 500 farmers within a 30-mile radius of the plant. The facility will need 375,000 dry tons of stover annually.

DuPont, which also operates a DuPont Industrial Bioscience plant in southwest Cedar Rapids, said the Nevada biorefinery will create 85 full-time jobs and more than 150 local seasonal jobs.

'Cellulosic biofuel is joining ranks with wind and solar as true alternatives to fossil fuels, reducing damaging environmental impacts and increasing our energy security,” said William Feehery, president of DuPont Industrial Biosciences, in a news release.

The majority of the biofuel produced at the Nevada plant will be bound for California to fulfill that state's low carbon fuel standard. California adopted a policy to reduce carbon intensity in transportation fuels.

The Nevada plant also will serve as a commercial-scale demonstration of the cellulosic technology where investors from abroad can see firsthand how to replicate the model in their home regions.

Friday's opening of the cellulosic ethanol plant comes at a time that the biofuels industry is battling to retain the level of ethanol that must be blended with gasoline.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to come up with its final recommendations next month after proposing to cut the nation's renewable fuel standard from levels Congress set earlier.