This seems like a pretty big breakthrough.

Using patented microorganisms and transformative bioreactor designs, Coskata ethanol is produced via a unique three-step conversion process that turns virtually any carbon-based feedstock—including biomass, municipal solid waste, and a variety of agricultural waste—into ethanol, making production a possibility in almost any geography. The technology is ethanol-specific and enzyme independent, requiring no additional chemicals or pre-treatments.

Simply put, the Coskata process can produce ethanol almost anywhere in the world, using practically any renewable source, including feedstock, garbage, old tires and plant waste. And it can do so for less than a dollar per gallon.

I wonder what the equivalent cost per barrel of oil that represents? It seems like it would make sense to convert jet engines at that price, if you can.

Even if ethanol were a quarter the price of kerosene, it wouldn't make sense to convert most jet aircraft to it, because it has poor energy density, both in terms of mass and volume - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_density .

If you want a biofuel which performs better than Jet-A, you probably should take a look at DMF - 2,5-dimethylfuran, derived from fructose, which has about 15% better volumetric energy density than Jet-A, and about 98% of the mass energy density.

Personally, I think that syngas-derived butanol is much better than biologically-derived ethanol. It has a higher energy density, and it can be used as up to 35% mixture with diesel fuel, which ethanol basically cannot.

By the way -

1 barrel oil equivalent = 6120 megajoules
1 gallon of ethanol ~= 91 megajoules

1 barrel of crude oil ~= 67.25 gallons of ethanol

So 1 dollar per gallon ethanol beats 68 dollar a barrel oil, if your machines can consume both with equal efficiency.

A more detailed look at the "Coskata process" shows that it is a syngas reforming method, which uses anaerobic bacteria as a living catalyst. Since these germs are alive, the process runs best at very modest pressures and human body-like temperatures.

The process does seem to be well suited for developing countries, but for large-scale industrial production, I would have to wonder how well it compares (economically) with high-temperature/high-pressure MoS2 catalyst process like the "Power Energy Fuels" "Ecalene" process.

Everything here depends on the cost and development time of the new technology. The higher the cost of new technology and the longer the lead time, the less likely it will be that investors will risk it. A near-$70/bbl (oil) breakeven price, if that's an accurate estimate, might not be good enough to get this new technology into widespread use unless it can be produced relatively quickly. The article mentions production by 2011, by which time oil could easily be much cheaper than $70/bbl.

This reasoning also explains why other oil substitutes that are already technically feasible have not been developed on a large scale. For example, the breakeven oil price for Canadian tar-sand oil is, IIRC, something like $50/bbl (whatever the exact figure, it's much below the current crude-oil price). What holds up development are the multi-$billion development cost and multi-year lead time -- that's a lot of risk for investors.

Butanol is also available via a fermentation process. You don't have to do syngas to get it.

> Butanol is also available via a fermentation process. You don't have to do syngas to get it.

Correct. But then you are converting valuable sugars into motor fuel. Syngas is more versatile - it can be produced with in-situ gasification of coal, oil shale, garbage, agricultural waste, or almost any organic material.

Continuing Charlie's numbers into the relevant energy density context:

1 barrel oil equivalent = 6120 MJ
1 barrel ethanol = 3822 MJ

IMNSHO, this area of research has value. We've got thousands of years of practice at making _potable_ ethanol with bacteria. But the focus has never been on the energy balance. There's a lot of slack between 'theoretical minimum energy cost' and where we are now with regards to making fuels.

Gah, left out: The weight of a gallon of gas is variable - but ethanol is generally slightly heavier.

gas 6.1 ± .4 pounds/gallon
ethanol 6.59 pounds/gallon