Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com

Coskata Inc.’s patented process for making ethanol inexpensively from almost any source of carbon is a “truly disruptive technology” that could cause fundamental economic changes, Wes Bolsen, the company’s vice president for business development, said in an interview.

If time proves Bolsen correct, it is likely investors will need to respond across the full range of their portfolios, as major industries such as oil, forest products, waste management, chemicals and plastics undergo major changes that could significantly help or hurt their bottom lines.

As expressed by Bolsen, Coskata envisions a future where ethanol is made in hundreds of plants around the U.S. with locally-available feedstocks and consumed by so-called E85 vehicles, which are cars and trucks with engines that can run on a blend of 85% ethanol to just 15% gasoline.

To be sure, there are only a small number of E85 vehicles now on the road, and it can take 15 to 20 years to turn over a country’s vehicle fleet. But with forecasts of $4 gasoline in 2008 and maybe $5 gasoline in 2009, there could be a big push to convert today’s vehicles to run on E85 using less expensive ethanol. Whether or not this occurs, America’s growing dependence on ethanol to augment its gasoline supplies, coupled with growing evidence of global food shortages precipitated in part by corn-derived ethanol, should lead to big growth in advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol made with Coskata’s patented microorganisms and bioreactors.

The more cellulosic ethanol that is made, the better it will be for feedstock suppliers such as pulp and paper companies, waste management firms, agribusinesses, even coal companies. (Coskata’s process utilizes almost any carbon source, including fossil sources such as coal.)

It could be bad for all kinds of energy companies including the integrated oils, drillers and refiners. Oil-producing countries could also experience a reversal of fortune. “It makes some people nervous,” Bolsen said in discussing the potential for a major economic shift away from oil. “I want the consumer to have choice,” he said, adding that if E85 is cheaper, that choice may be self evident.

Beyond transportation, Bolsen indicated that his firm’s bio-oil also might cause a sweeping change in the business models of chemical and plastic companies, with petroleum-based plastic replaced by cellulosic ethanol-based renewable plastic.