Companies wanting to produce ethanol from citrus waste in Florida are scrambling to obtain patents and secure sites for pilot projects, evidence that the national craze for the fuel is branching out from the more traditional grain-based feedstock.  The material used in the process is what is left after processors have squeezed the juice from the orange, which equals nearly one-half of the fruit's original mass.

New York-based Xethanol has three patents pending related to the process of converting citrus waste into ethanol and is also consulting with about 20 orange processors to try and secure a location for an ethanol facility.  Ideally, the plants would be located near current orange processing facilities for easy access to the waste product.  The plants would ferment and distill the alcohol to 150 proof, after which the product would be sent to a centralized final distillation plant to complete the ethanol-making process.  A pilot ethanol facility could be up and running this summer or possibly in the fourth quarter of 2007. If successful, a similar business model could be reproduced in California.

The U.S. Agriculture Department has been researching the science of converting citrus waste to ethanol since 1992.  Florida, the nation's top orange producer, it is growing much smaller crops in the last two years because of hurricane damage, citrus disease, and valuable citrus acreage lost to commercial development.  Fewer oranges mean less citrus waste, causing researchers to scale back the potential for ethanol production.

Dr. Bill Widmer, research chemist with the Agricultural Research Service's Citrus and Subtropical Products Research Laboratory in Winter Haven, FL, said if every bit of citrus waste in the state was utilized there would be enough to produce 40 million to 50 million gallons of ethanol annually.  RFA data showed that although this is a relatively small amount, it is a large step for Florida, which currently has no local ethanol production.

Florida-based Citrus Energy also plans to begin construction on a facility in the Clewiston area that is expected to produce 4 million gallons of ethanol per year, according to company prez Dave Stewart.  The plant will use 85% orange peels and 15% grapefruit peels as its feedstock.  Citrus waste is readily available in Florida and most processors are happy to get rid of the waste product, Stewart said.  The waste is currently dried and used as a supplement in animal feed that is popular with dairy farmers. But turning the peels into ethanol is a much more lucrative business.

"At some point we need to start making ethanol out of biomass that doesn't come out of the food supply," said Stewart, "and for me this is a logical progression from corn."