The Biocycle website reports some updates on nine cellulose ethanol projects under the United States Department of Energy (US-DOE)-Grants to accelerate the development of the cellulose ethanol industry. The grant funds ranged from US$ 25 million to US$ 30 million in funds (per grantee), covering 50 percent of design/construction of “one-tenth commercial scale biorefineries that serve as prototypes for full-scale commercial opportunities.” The projects have diverse lignocellulosic feedstocks (sugarcane bagasse, wood chips, wheat straw, etc) and pretreatment processes (mild acid treatment, steam explosion, wet oxidation, etc), all leading to ethanol as the final product. While some are in the construction phase of demonstration scale facilities, some have been affected by the recent economic downturn and had to be scaled-back or renegotiated. The report gives specific updates on the companies which were granted funds by the US-DOE: Verenium Corporation, Lignol Energy Corporation, Pacific Energy Inc., ICM Inc., Alltech, Mascoma Corporation, Flambeau River Biofuels Inc., Newpage and RSE..