Cleveland, Tennessee Based Kudzu Ethanol Preparing For Production

Submitted by Joe Legge on July 7, 2008 - 4:45pm. News | Gas Gauge | Bradley County News

Comments Below: 6

Could an annoying plant hold the key to reducing our dependence on foreign oil?

A Cleveland, Tennessee man who knows how to make ethanol out of kudzu may soon bring his refining process to market.

This time next year, the gas you fill-up with in Chattanooga may be cheaper than other parts of the country. Tom Monahan with Agro*Gas says Chattanooga will be number one and then it will spread out from there.

In the basement of a Cleveland, Tennessee home, Doug Mizell's experiment in energy appears to be taking off. He's found a way to turn kudzu into fuel. Mizell says "if it blows a good blue flame like that, that means there's purity there."

Mizell's spent the last decade perfecting a process to refine kudzu into commercially viable ethanol. Monahan says "cellulosic which is the way we're going, is from plant refuge, we basically can use anything that grew and convert it into ethanol."

And since this ethanol isn't corn or soy based, it won't impact food prices. It takes 10 to 15 pounds of plant material to make a gallon of fuel, at a cost of about $1.30.

Next step, producing this product for market. Monahan says "we're looking for funding to build our first small plant, what you'd call a demonstration plant to help prove to our major investors that it works."

Monahan says a major fuel distributor wants to purchase two-thirds of their first year's production to cut into gas sold throughout the Tennessee Valley. "The distributor we're talking to just wants to get it out there at 10% in all gas.

Mizell "wants that savings reflected at the pump too so that the consumer gets the benefit of that."

He says if that initial refinery plant proves successful, he'll build additional plants across the southeast every six-months. "My goal is to make East TN the cellulosic valley of the entire industry."

» email this page | printer friendly version

I'd very much like to see

Submitted by Economic Realist (not verified) on December 16, 2008 - 9:31pm.

I'd very much like to see their cost basis for $1.30 per gallon. You can barely achieve that with corn at the moment which has none of the costly cellulose breakdown processes that would be involved in kudzu to ethanol conversion.

I can almost guarantee you that significant government subsidizing (through tax breaks and loans) is the only thing making this appear to be a profitable process. Food based ethanol startups flop all the time, and they have a much lower cost of production.

Now that corn is <$4 a bushel, kudzu would be even more impractical and uncompetitive. Once someone figures out a cost effective way of breaking down the cellulose, then kudzu and switchgrass will change the world. Until then they are just a way to milk the government for a couple of years hoping for a break-thru.

» reply | email this page

Super News - This Man May be a Hero!

Submitted by Juanitta Baldwin (not verified) on December 16, 2008 - 9:28am.

I've wrote the book "Kudzu in America" - and have spoken to groups for years literally begging some clever captialist to develop a use for kudzu like they do in Korea and Japan.

We import tons of kudzu in food and useful items such as wallpaper. Please, some bright person, put a stop to this and get rich in the process.

My book "Kudzu in America" can be previewed on my Website http://www.kudzukingdom.com and on http://www.amazon.com. It's full of great ideas - may be the answer to someone's unemployment!

» reply | email this page

wel said

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on September 13, 2008 - 8:49pm.

wel said

» reply | email this page

I totally agree with

Submitted by Kris C. (not verified) on September 11, 2008 - 5:20pm.

I totally agree with Michael. If the government OR the oil companies gets ahold of any plans for cheaper or better gas, then they're going to go even more psychotically retarded then they already are now, and jack those prices up also.
There's a documentary called "Who Killed the Electric Car?", which goes into detail about the battery operated car. This documentary had proved that the electrcity it would cost to recharge your charge wouldn't make a significant difference on your electric bill. They had built a charge station, which would cost about half the price of gas. That was a few years ago, so it would probly cost about $1-$1.50 to charge a car, versus $4 a gallon of gas.
So who really killed the electric car? They'll say different, but I say it was the greedy government, and the oil companies!

» reply | email this page

Kudzu ethanol - keep it away from current oil companies

Submitted by Guest (not verified) on July 7, 2008 - 8:41pm.

Word of caution. I think it's great when people can invent creative ways to beat monopolistic business practices, but I hope everyone sees that any alternative fuel placed back into the hands of the oil companies will only give them more power. Don't give them the satisfaction of eating up your creative inventions. Let's invent a plethura of alternative energies, but let them be manifested through new companies. That's how healthy competition works for the good of everyone.

Michael

» reply | email this page