New catalyst for ethanol from syngas being developed

Researchers at Iowa State University are developing a catalyst that can be more selective in producing ethanol from syngas rather than other products. Through gasification, syngas can be produced from almost any organic material including waste materials. This technology ofr gasification is already in use and well developed. Syngas can be upgraded to replace natural gas or a catalyst can be used to convert syngas to ethanol.
GRAINNET News and Information for the Grain, Milling, Feed, Seed and BioFuels Industry: "“You can use the waste product from the distilling process or any number of other sources of biomass, such as switchgrass or wood pulp. Basically any carbon-based material can be converted into syngas.
'And once we have syngas, we can turn that into ethanol.”"