General Motors is still firmly planted in the automotive industry, but the U.S.’ largest automaker is once again venturing into the fuel business. On Thursday the auto giant announced a partnership with Boston’s Mascoma Corp., a company that produces ethanol from nonfood plant matter.
The vast majority of ethanol in the U.S. is derived from corn, which has led to global food shortages and sharp price increase. Mascoma’s process is able to use several different forms plant matter — including wood chips, switch grass and farm waste — to produce fuel, according to Automotive News.
Mascoma currently has a plant in Rome, new York that is capable of producing 200,000 gallons of ethanol per year. The plant’s New York location was chosen due to its proximity to several paper mills as it will use mill sludge as its first form of plant matter.
According to Mascoma, a commercial-sized plant using its technology could yield 10 million gallons of ethanol per year. The U.S. currently uses 140 billion gallons of gasoline per year.
Earlier this year, GM announced a similar deal with Coskata — another producer of cellulose-derived ethanol.
