aimed to make cellulosic ethanol from wood chips without the use of enzymes

Plans were to scale up to 100mmgpy.

The loan guarantee was the first made through USDA's Biorefinery Assistance Program authorized by the 2008 Farm Bill. Under the guarantee, the U.S. government would pay off 80 percent of a bondholder's investment if Range Fuels defaulted on the bonds, said Mr. Aldous

"The project’s initial loan guarantee of $76 million was announced in March 2007, and ground was broken at the Soperton facility eight months later. Furthermore, despite numerous red flags about potential problems with the plan, Range Fuels managed to scramble enough funds to make a payment on their initial loan in early of 2010. As a result, the United States Department of Agriculture issued another $80 million loan guarantee in February of 2010, leaving the fingerprints of both the most recent administrations on the doomed project. It was not until the company failed to make a payment in January of 2011 that the government finally extricated itself from the debacle and revoked Range Fuels access to the low-risk government funding that had served as the company’s lifeblood for nearly four years." [from "Soperton's Solyndra" article]

   

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