GM and Coskata forge new automotive-biofuels alliance

General Motors today announced a partnership with a new Illinois-based biofuels company, Coskata.

Coskata, part of the Vinod Khosla stable of alternative energy companies, says it has developed a highly efficient and cost-effective technology to produce ethanol from different cellulosic feedstocks at less than $1 a gallon (without subsidies).

(Rick Wagoner, chairman of General Motors, center, poses with Bill Roe, president of Coskata, left, and Vinod Khosla, right. (Photo by Associated Press)

The company says its technology has been inspected by experts at the Argonne National Laboratory. It's energy balance (input units of energy versus output units of energy) was estimated as high as 7.7:1, making it as efficient as sugar cane, the most productive source of ethanol.

Coskata also says its process uses less than one gallon of water for each gallon of ethanol, far better than current conventional methods. That is largely due to its bacterial fermentation process, using proprietory technology developed at the University of Oklahoma, that does not require distillation (there most water intensive part of traditional technology).

"We don't claim this is the solution to energy independence, but we do think it can have an impact," said Coskata CEO, Bill Roe, in a conference call with reporters. 

The company says it is building a 40,000 gallon demonstration plant to be completed by late 2008. Full-scale plants are planned for late 2010, early 2011.

Coskata, founded in July 2006, is named after a wildlife refuge in Nantucket. It describes itself as a 'next generation ethanol company,' with the emphasis on non-food cellulosic ethanol crops. The company has been in 'stealth mode' and put up a new website today after the partnership was announced at the Detroit Auto Show.

GM says it will use its new partnership with Coskata to promote the availability of E-85. "We want to rapidly commercialize biofuels in the U.S. so they're available to everyone at a competitive price, and this is a very huge step in that," said Mary Beth Stanek, GM's director of environment, energy and safety policy.

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