The company has formed a partnership with Illinois-based Coskata Inc., which has developed a way to make ethanol from practically any renewable source, including old tyres and plant waste.
The process is said to be a significant improvement over corn-based ethanol because it uses far less water and energy and does not divert food into fuel. The schedule is for Coskata to have a pilot plant up and running toward the end of this year and the fuel will be used on GM test vehicles.
"We will have our first commercial-scale plant making 50 to 100 million gallons of ethanol running in 2011," Coskata chief Bill Roe is quoted as saying. (Tyres & Accessories/Staffordshire, U.K.)