The Fulton plant is already a recipient of an award of up to $88m from the DOE under the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
If approved, the loan guarantee will secure the financing for the remainder of the costs to construct the facility, which will produce 19 million gallons of ethanol per year from woody biomass, mill residue, and other cellulosic waste.
Arnold Klann, CEO of BlueFire, said: “We are very optimistic that the DOE will consider the enormous benefits of BlueFire Ethanol’s technology to convert cellulosic waste products into useable biofuels during this selection process.
“Programs like the DOE loan guarantee enable first-of-its-kind technologies to come to fruiting and ultimately help ease the US dependence on fossil fuels like petroleum, which is oftentimes imported from hostile nations.”
At present, BlueFire is focused on the development of two cellulosic ethanol facilities in Lancaster, California and Fulton, Mississippi. The fully-permitted and shovel-ready Lancaster facility, the company’s first US commercial plant, will use post-sorted cellulosic wastes diverted from southern California’s landfills to produce approximately 3.9 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year.
BlueFire expects to have all necessary permits for its second commercial plant in Fulton by this summer, putting the company on a path to commence construction by the end of 2010.
