NCSU to Produce and Test Renewable Diesel, Biojet and Biogasoline Fuels from Centia Process

20 May 2008

The Biofuels Center of North Carolina has awarded North Carolina State University (NCSU) a $200,000 grant to further the development of Centia—a three-step thermal, catalytic, and reforming process that has the potential to turn virtually any lipidic compound into drop-in replacements for petroleum jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline. (Earlier post.)

During this 12-month grant, NCSU will build upon previous test results by demonstrating the end-to-end production of biofuels from a variety of feedstock sources. Starting with one or more North Carolina feedstocks—including crop oils, animal fats, and possibly algal oils—the university will demonstrate all the steps in the Centia process to produce multi-gallon batches of renewable diesel, JP-8/Jet A-1 compliant biojet fuel, and unleaded biogasoline.

The three steps in the Centia process include:

• Hydrolytic conversion. The feedstock is heated under pressure to separate free fatty acids from glycerol in the triglycerides in the feedstock.

• Decarboxylation. The free fatty acids and solvent are heated, pressurized, and passed through a catalyst in a reactor to produce n-alkanes, the building blocks of fuels.

• Reforming long-chain alkanes. The resulting alkanes—straight-chain hydrocarbons of 15-17 carbon atoms—are reformed into branched alkanes and ring structures. The process is optimized to maximize C10 through C14 iso-alkanes. The alkanes can be reformed differently to create a variety of fuel types. By varying the catalyst, temperature, pressure, and kinetics of this third step, Centia can produce a wide range of biofuels that mimic their petroleum-derived counterparts.

The biofuels produced will then be tested in an instrumented single cylinder diesel engine, jet turbine engine, and four cylinder gasoline engine.

The Centia process was developed in 2006 by NCSU and has been licensed exclusively by Diversified Energy Corporation.

Diversified Energy is supporting the university in providing systems engineering, large-scale plant design, process and economic modeling, and commercialization planning and strategy. The company is also seeking technical and economic partners to support the on-going development and transition of the Centia technology.