Range Fuels Ethanol Plant

Soperton, Georgia is known as the, "Million Pines City." Now a new ethanol plant there is 100-million dollars closer to completion.
Colorado-based Range Fuels broke ground on their ethanol plant last November. At the time they secured 82-million dollars in funding from the United States Department of Energy and the State of Georgia.
Now the company has raised 100-million more in private financing. The money will be used to complete construction on the cellulosic ethanol plant in Soperton. Range Fuels will convert leftover wood waste into fuel, using their own thermo-chemical technology. They chose Georgia because of the large amount of timber here.
Ethanol made from timber is expected to be much cheaper than ethanol made from corn. The U.S. has tons of available timber waste each year. The facility is expected to open in 2009 and will produce 20-million gallons of ethanol a year.

State touts bioenergy

Construction began today on Georgia’s first wood-based ethanol plant … and environmental officials are using it to lure other biofuel plants. State marketers will begin using a new slogan -- "The Bioenergy Corridor" -- to draw alternative energy companies to Georgia. With timber prices sagging, the state hopes tree farmers can earn additional revenue by selling their otherwise unusable wood waste as fuel to alternative energy plants. Colorado-based Range Fuels is building a plant in Soperton in Treutlin County.