New Team Enters Field in Cellulosic Ethanol Race
By John O'Dell April 29, 2008Chemicals giant Monsanto Co. has teamed with a California firm, Mendel Biotechnology, to develop a strain of elephant grass native to China into a renewable feedstock for ethanol production.
The move is part of a growing effort to derive energy from cellulose -- the non-edible parts of plants – and comes, unsurprisingly, just as Congress has earmarked cellulosic research for increased federal subsidies in the new farm bill wending its way through the legislative process.
The bill would increase subsidies for cellulosic ethanol and decrease subsidies for corn-based ethanol, which is being criticized in many quarters these days for diverting a basic food crop for energy production, thus diminishing global food supplies and helping to drive up the price of grain-based foods. The companies said this week that Monsanto will supply crop-testing, breeding and seed-production expertise to Mendel's Bioenergy Seeds & Feedstocks unit, based in Hayward, California.
"We expect that [cellulosic biofuel] industry to start to scale and mature in the next decade, and we think we'll be on pace to match that with seed varieties" farmers can plant to grow grass crops that can be used as a fuel feedstock, said Neal Gutterson, Mendel's president and chief executive officer.
Energy producer BP has said it is funding Mendel's research program through 2012 and has taken an equity interest in the biotech company, as has Monsanto.
BP exchanged its investment for a stake in Mendel. Monsanto, too, is a shareholder.
John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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