Bio Ethanol Japan starts wood-based ethanol plant

Bio Ethanol Japan Kansai, a joint venture established in March 2004 by five companies including Taisei Construction and Marubeni Corp. to produce ethanol from waste wood, has started what it says is the world’s first commercial production of wood-based ethanol at its new Sakai plant in western Japan. The facilities completed in the first-phase have an output capacity of 1,400 kiloliters per year. Capacity will be expanded to 4,000 in 2008. Ethanol from cellulosic wood mass is a second generation biomass-to-liquids technology. (February 1, 2007)