Coskata leaks word that demo plant is up and running

Warrenville, Ill.-based ethanol developer Coskata has been planning to announce the opening of its demonstration plant in October. But CEO William Roe leaked the news a little early.

He told the Cleantech Group as part of its Cleantech Forum XXIII in Boston this week that the plant has been up and running for the past nine weeks. Coskata was one of the companies featured during the forum’s CEO Showcase. Coskata also made the first Global Cleantech 100 list, a peer-reviewed survey of private cleantech startups from around the world, jointly released with the Guardian newspaper (see Surprises abound in first Global Cleantech 100 ranking).

Roe said the demo plant, which produces cellulosic ethanol from waste, is expected to pump out on the order of 50,000 gallons a year. His company co-located the site in Madison, Penn., with gasification partner Calgary, Alberta's Alter Nrg (TSX:NRG)’s Westinghouse Plasma (see Coskata to build demonstration plant in Penn.).

He said Coskata designed the plant with minimum scale engineering, meaning it could directly scale into a commercial plant capable of producing 50 to 60 million gallons a year (see Coskata, ICM to build ethanol plant).

Roe said the company has raised three rounds of private equity, which total north of $50 million, and isn't in need of funds at the moment. Other reports have indicated Coskata has raised more than $76 million for its process to create ethanol from biorefuse (see Coskata gets $40M as pilot ethanol plant nears completion and Khosla-backed Coskata, EcoMotors come out of stealth).

Coskata came out of stealth mode in January, claiming it could produce ethanol with its hybrid gasification and fermentation process for less than $1 per gallon using almost any carbon-based feedstock.

Roe said the company’s two-pronged business model includes licensing the technology to development partners such as feedstock suppliers as well as owning facilities.