Biofuels Industry Continues to Take a Pounding as Feedstock and Construction Costs Keep Rising, a Feature of "Navigating the Currents of Change" on Industrialinfo.com

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- In the first half of 2008, not a single corn-based ethanol plant has started construction, and the biodiesel industry had only a handful of construction starts. Almost daily, projects are being canceled or being put on hold until market conditions improve. Corn prices have risen to $7.11 per bushel, and soybean oil is at an all-time high of $5.78 per pound. Flooding in the Midwest has also affected this year's corn and soybean crops, but the industry is not yet in panic mode.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that this year's corn crop will be the second largest in history despite the flooding that plagued the Midwest this summer. Predictions for this year's crop are estimated to be 12.2 billion bushels of corn with an average yield of 155 bushels per acre.

The current capacity of ethanol in the U.S. is 9.8 billion gallons, and it is estimated that about 24% of this year's corn crop will go toward ethanol production. Ethanol production from corn is expected to top out at 15 billion gallons per year, and the remaining 21 billion gallons needed to reach the 36 billion-gallon renewable-fuels standard by 2022 will have to come from feedstock sources other than corn.

Ethanol production from cellulosic materials is the future of the industry, and the technology for doing so is arriving. Companies like Broin, Verenium (NASDAQ:VRNM) (Cambridge, Massachusetts) and Range Fuels are at the forefront of commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol production, and the technology has been proven and put into operation.

Join Jay Brunson, Vice President for Industrial Info's Alternative Fuels Group, in a "Navigating the Currents of Change," webcast for an in-depth discussion on the controversial biofuels industry.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a marketing information service specializing in industrial process, energy and financial related markets with products and services ranging from industry news, analytics, forecasting, plant and project databases, as well as multimedia services. For more information send inquiries to alternativefuelsgroup@industrialinfo.com or visit us at www.industrialinfo.com.

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