Texas Company Offers Home-Scale Cellulose to Ethanol Production Systems

By Craig Taylor

February 4, 2010

From banana peels and cereal boxes to lettuce, Allard Research and Development LLC is designing small to medium-scale ethanol fuel production systems.

Allard’s newest system, designed as a front-end processor for their existing line of modular ethanol distillation systems, turns ordinary waste products into fermentable sugars.

“The ability to economically use cellulose as a feedstock has been the last hurdle in widespread adoption of a distributed fuel production model,” said Sharon Allard, CEO. “Historically, the big limiting factor for people wanting to make their own ethanol fuel has been a lack of abundant feedstock. Since everyone has cellulose growing in their yards, not only are we able to make fuel from that feedstock, we are also helping to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills.”

Allard’s automated ethanol fuel systems produce ethanol in a compact machine controlled by a UNIX-based operating system running on an Apple Mac Mini. Machinery include commercial grade stainless steel tanks, valves, pipes, fittings and a stainless steel distillation column.