Xethanol's new focus: bakery waste to ethanol

A company that's no stranger to curious initiatives has announced a latest effort: turning bakery waste into ethanol. 

Xethanol Corporation (AMEX: XNL) today announced that three University of Georgia scientists in biomass fuel production have signed consulting agreements with the company.

Doctors Elliot Altman, Director of the Center for Molecular Bioengineering; Thomas Adams, Director of the Outreach Service of the Faculty of Engineering; and Mark Eiteman, Professor of Engineering, are all of UGA in Athens, Georgia.

Their primary work is to be aimed at microbial methods of making ethanol efficiently, using natural materials and feedstocks to assist private industry to produce cellulosic ethanol at an acceptable and profitable cost.

Their second priority, however, is to involve the conversion of starch waste, such as bakery waste, into ethanol, according to the company. The team "is expected to focus on the rapid assessment of commercial viability" for technology to convert bakery waste into ethanol fuel to be added to gasoline for motor vehicles, the company said.

Much of that bakery waste is now collected regionally and made into animal feed, according to the company.

Xethanol is a renewable energy company focused on the production of ethanol and co-products. The company's stated strategy is to develop facilities at or near the source of waste biomass and in proximity to high demand ethanol markets.

Last December, Xethanol announced it was cannibalizing equipment at one of its facilities for an experimental partnership with a Florida company to turn waste citrus peels into fuel (see Xethanol forms new venture, despite lawsuits.)

No company executives were available today for an update on that project.

Xethanol is somewhat controversial. The downtown New York skyscraper-based company had previously been sued by shareholders for, among other things, obfuscation and underdelivery at its rural plants (see Ethanol maker Xethanol served with class action lawsuits.)

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