Company Name
BioEthanol Japan

Company Web Site
http://www.bio-ethanol.co.jp/

Headquarters
Japan

Latest News
BioEthanol Japan (the site is in Japanese) became the first company to make cellulosic ethanol - the kind that is less controversial than corn ethanol - on a commercial basis. The plant in Osaka Prefecture has an annual capacity of 1.4 million liters (about 370,000 gallons US). In 2008, it plans to boost production to 4 million liters (1 million gallons).

Funding
BioEthanol Japan was established in 2004 by five companies, including construction firm Taisei Corp., major trading house Marubeni Corp., Daiei Inter Nature System, and beermaker Sapporo Breweries Ltd. The amount of funding is unknown.

Technology
The ethanol biofuel is made from wood construction waste using technology from Celunol, the key element of which being a genetically engineered Escherichia coli bacteria that can ferment both C6 (hexose) and C5 (pentose) sugars present in cellulosic biomass. The big benefit of cellulosic ethanol over ethanol made from food crops is that it can be made with waste biomass coming from forestry, construction and agriculture (corn and wheat stalks that are usually burned). It can also use fast-growing, low-impact plants such as switchgrass, hemp and kenaf on land that can't be used for food production.