- CASPER — An Upton cellulosic ethanol plant owned and operated by Rapid City, S.D.-based KL Energy Corp. has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a biomass production facility under the Biomass Crop Assistance Program.
It apparently is the first such approval for a cellulosic ethanol facility. The Upton plant is the first industrial-size plant of its type operating in the U.S. The company is working to construct additional facilities in the U.S., Europe and South America.
The Biomass Crop Assistance Program will help KL Energy offset the feedstock costs associated at the Upton demonstration biorefinery. It produces cellulosic ethanol and other products from wood chips.
The program provides a matching per-ton payment for the collection, harvest, storage and transportation of renewable biomass delivered and sold to a local biomass conversion facility. It was included in the 2008 Farm Bill.
Earlier, the Obama administration announced that $49 million in federal stimulus money was being directed toward projects to turn wood into fuel. The government has also promoted wood biofuel as a way to create markets for small wood and low-value trees on federal forest lands.
Most ethanol now found at the gas pump is made from corn grain, but the industry is increasingly beset by environmental concerns over the amount of land and energy required to produce the corn.
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