Biocrude production plant begins operations

Technology Review : Kior CEO Fred Cannon announced that the company had begun operations at its new biofuel plant in Columbus, Mississippi, and that the plant was meeting expected production goals. The plant uses wood chips and other biomass to create biocrude, which can be refined into gasoline and diesel fuel. It consumes 500 dry tons of material a day, and it should produce 13 million gallons of biocrude annually. That is lower than current ethanol fuel plants, but the opening of the plant is a big step in the alternative fuels industry, which has failed several times in transitioning from a demonstration plant to a full-scale one. Kior is also planning a plant with three times the capacity as the current one, which it hopes will lower prices. The fuel from the Columbus plant is currently significantly more expensive than petroleum-based fuel.