Mascoma Moving Forward

Mascoma Corp., a Maker of Cellulosic ethanol, is charging ahead toward the alternative fuel's eventual commercialization.

CEO Bruce Jamerson says Mascoma has had no trouble getting funding in the era of plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles and pure EVs.

Mascoma has raised $100 million from private investors but now has partnerships with many groups, including oil and electric companies.

Jamerson says Mascoma soon will announce a partnership with an oil company that will take a by-product it generates using wood pulp to create cellulosic ethanol and make an “unusual product.” The material, lignin, is a wood fiber that makes plants rigid and is similar to coal “before it's been in the ground for a million years,” Jamerson says at MBS.