Government waste creates 'trashanol'

As companies push to cash in on President Obama's call for biofuels and clean coal technologies, two are touting a way to turn government and other paper waste into fuel, or "trashanol."

Yes, all those thousand-plus-page pieces of legislation can now be turned into a biofuel that the manufacturers say emits up to 90% less carbon dioxide than gasoline.

On recent demonstration drives around Washington, Denmark's Novozymes and Maryland-based Fiberight used their so-called trashanol to power a flex-fuel Chevy HHR and Ford F150.

How do they do this? Fiberight takes office waste and pulps, treats and washes it. It then uses enzymes from Novozymes to convert the fluffy substance, rich in cellulose, into sugars that are fermented into ethanol. This ethanol is blended with gasoline to make E85 -- 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.

"Enzyme technology is ready for market," Adam Monroe, president of Novozymes North America, said in a statement. His company received two Energy Department research grants, in 2002 and 2008, worth $14.5 million, to reduce the cost of enzymes and improve their efficiency in coverting cellulose to biofuels.

His company has also received a $28.4 million tax credit to build an enzyme manufacturing plant in Blair, Neb., which it says will create 100 new green jobs.

Americans generate enough paper waste to produce 8 billion gallons of "trashanol" a year, Craig Stuart-Paul, Fiberight's chief executive, said last month at the 2010 Washington Auto Show, according to Edmunds.com. He said the typical family of four produces enough waste a year to make fuel to drive 8,000 miles.

He said Fiberight has a pilot plant in Blairstown, Iowa, that could eventually produce 10 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year. He added: "We're talking about waste that otherwise would be burned or go into a hole in the ground."

source: usatoday