Biomass meeting and tour in Tennessee

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend a biomass meeting in Tennessee last month (February 15-17).  On the third day (Thursday, Feb 17), after two days of meetings in Knoxville, the group had a chance to visit a switchgrass farm and a cellulosic ethanol demonstration plant, both in Vonore, TN, which is about 45 min south of Knoxville.  We were informed that there are just over 5,000 acres of agriculture land now planted to switchgrass in Tennessee.  The nearby ethanol plant is capable of producing 250,000 gallons per year of ethanol from switchgrass, corn cobs, and other cellulosic sources.  More details are available at this link.  There is still a gap (locals called it the "valley of death") between the State and Federal funding of switchgrass production and conversion to ethanol versus actually having a viable, self-sustaining cellulosic ethanol industry.  Further improvements in efficiency are being worked on in several key areas, both on the farms and at the plant.  As a side note, I got a kick out of asking one of the locals how to say the name of the town we were in.  I asked, "Is it Vonore, like 'manure'?"  He replied, "You have to emphasize the first syllable...VON-ore.  It's just like the word, McDonalds.  Here, we say MAC-donalds."