SmartEnergyViews

A joint pilot project between the University of Tennessee and Mascoma Corp. to make switchgrass ethanol has been scaled back. and Mascoma is dropping out as a partner but will provide technology.

According to the news report, the company pulled out because of a soft market for ethanol, and the university says their "previous expectations were unrealistic." The project was previously awarded a $26 million DOE grant.

Mascoma, which recently got equity funding from GM, says they have patented microorganisms that break down cellulosic biomass into ethanol.

They say they have raised $61 million in third-round funding, including $10 million in equity funding from Marathon Oil and the $26 million DOE grant with U.T.

Just editorializing, but maybe U.T. got hooked up with a company in the IPO business instead of the biofuels business?

News reports indicate that milk and dairy prices will increase dramatically because the price of corn is going up due to the demand for corn to make ethanol. (Yes, our economy is a tangled web!)

But even more serious is talk of a tequila shortage because Mexican farmers are planting corn instead of agave due to the demand for ethanol.

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