Lignol Energy, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Lignol Innovations, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pacific Ethanol to evaluate the benefits of integrating its proprietary second generation biorefinery technology with Pacific Ethanol's existing corn ethanol facilities.

Pacific Ethanol seeks to reduce the carbon intensity of the ethanol it produces by integrating cellulose ethanol into existing operations. The company’s production locations are ideally located for the deployment of Lignol’s biorefineries due to the abundance of woody biomass on the West Coast and regulations to improve the greenhouse gas profile of ethanol produced and marketed in California.

Lignol said that it continues to evaluate ways to deploy its technology in order to drive the cost of cellulosic ethanol lower and exploit its technology platform. The integration of cellulosic ethanol into existing corn ethanol plants is one such opportunity.

Neil Koehler, CEO of Pacific Ethanol, said: “By integrating cellulose ethanol production into existing operations, we can lower our carbon footprint, diversify our feedstock, and meet the future demand for advanced biofuels as required by the Federal Renewable Fuel Standard.

“Our work with Lignol will help advance their technology and take us nearer to our goal of producing and marketing ethanol from a variety of feedstocks.”

Lignol is a Canadian company undertaking the development of biorefining technologies for production of fuel-grade ethanol and other biochemical co-products from non-food cellulosic biomass feedstocks.