The Oil Drum

That's a good read. There are lots of things in there to pay special attention to, especially for those who think cellulosic ethanol is just a matter of time. Maybe, maybe not. But one thing it is not is a sure thing:

"It's the holy grail ... if you can make it work," said John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute.

The question is, can you really make it work?

On a sun-baked plateau in Golden, Colo., scientists at the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory have been working on that question for three decades. James McMillan, a top biochemical engineer at the lab, said the outlook has never been brighter.

Looming stubbornly in front of researchers is a masterpiece of evolution: the rigid cell walls that give plants their strength and resiliency. Developed over the eons, these walls allow a slender stalk of prairie grass to bend like a ballerina in the wind yet snap back to attention to fend off cold, heat and pestilence. They help explain why a field of corn can grow over a man's head in a matter of a few short months.

The problem is, breaking down those walls is like robbing a bank. While the starch in corn kernels gives up its energy-packed sugars easily, the sugars in plant cell walls are locked into winding structures of complex carbohydrates designed to give plants backbone and protection.

My next essay is going to delve into this issue a bit, and contrast it with biomass gasification - a much better process, in my opinion. I will also point out that lately a number of ethanol advocates have taken to calling their biomass gasification processes "cellulosic ethanol", for reasons that are not completely clear to me.