Biogasoline
[Due to the increasing size of the archives, each topic page now contains only the prior 365 days of content. Access to older stories is now solely through the Monthly Archive pages or the site search function.]
Terrabon to Open New Demonstration Facility Next Week for Biomass to Renewable Gasoline Technology
October 31, 2008
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| Terrabon’s pathway to renewable hydrocarbon fuel produces ketones, which are then processed using conventional refinery technology. Click to enlarge. |
Terrabon LLC, the developer of a carboxylic acid fermentation platform licensed from Texas A&M University for the conversion of biomass to fuel intermediates that can then be upgraded into industrial chemicals and renewable gasoline, will open its new Advanced Biofuels Research Facility in Bryan, Texas next week.
The facility, which will test the scaled-up commercial feasibility of the Texas A&M MixAlco technology (earlier post), will have a loading capacity of 400 dry tons of biomass, equal to a loading rate of five dry tons per day. The Company will use sorghum as the primary feedstock with the objective of producing organic salts and converting them to ketones, which can be converted to renewable gasoline.
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Two Independent Research Efforts Develop Similar Processes for Conversion of Sugars into Bio-Hydrocarbon Fuels
September 19, 2008
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| Schematic representation of reactor sequence used in Dumesic process providing a platform for the production of liquid transportation fuels. The proposed chemistries involved in the conversion of sugars and polyols over Pt-Re catalysts are shown schematically in the lower portion of the figure. The asterisks represent catalytic sites. Click to enlarge. Credit: AAAS |
Following independent paths of investigation, two research teams have developed similar processes to convert sugar—potentially derived from agricultural waste and non-food plants—into gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and a range of other valuable chemicals.
Chemical engineer Randy Cortright and his colleagues at Virent Energy Systems of Madison, Wisc., developed their BioForming process in early 2006. Virent this week announced the publication of a several patent applications and a white paper disclosing the technical details of its technology to produce renewable transportation fuels. That announcement was followed by the publication of a separate discovery by chemical engineer James Dumesic and his team at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Dumesic (who was a co-founder of Virent with Cortright in 2002) and his UW Madison colleagues announced their findings in the 18 September 2008 online ScienceExpress, to be followed in print in the 18 October 2008 issue of Science.
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Startup Licenses Texas A&M Technologies for Direct Production of Hydrocarbon Fuels from Biomass; First Product to be 95 Octane Biogasoline
August 19, 2008
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| Overview of the Byogy process. Click to enlarge. |
Start-up Byogy Renewables has licensed processes for the direct conversion of biomass to hydrocarbon fuels such as high-octane gasoline or jet fuel from the Texas A&M University System. Byogy is planning to have plants up and running within 18 months to two years.
Byogy’s initial plans are to produce only gasoline—a 95 octane fuel with an energy content of 130,000 Btu/gallon—according to Benjamin Brant, Byogy’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Conventional retail gasoline is about 125,000 Btu/gallon. Brant said that Byogy may involve strategic partners in the near future that will help support the production of jet fuels (JetA or JP8), diesel or further fractionation/distillation of its initial cuts to separate high value aromatic compounds as biochemical feedstocks.
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New Zealand Awards NZ$45.6M for Alternative- and Bio-Fuel Research; LanzaTech NZ$12M Low-Carbon Gasoline Project Leads
July 27, 2008
New Zealand’s Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (FRST) recently approved NZ$45.6 million (US$33.8M) in contracts for alternative- and bio-fuels research as part of a record NZ$785 million (US$582 million) in funding with more than two dozen research organizations in the foundation’s main 2008 investment round.
At the top of the awards for fuels contracts is a three-year, NZ$12-million (US$8.9 million) project by LanzaTech to develop a low-carbon biofuel that can be used with gasoline in blend ratios of up to 90% in older cars. LanzaTech is the developer of a process using bacterial fermentation to convert carbon monoxide into ethanol, and has backing from Khosla Ventures, among others. (Earlier post.)
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Sapphire Energy Introduces Algae-Derived Bio-Gasoline
May 29, 2008
Start-up algal biofuels company Sapphire Energy unveiled a renewable 91 octane gasoline that conforms to ASTM certification derived from algal a biocrude.
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NCSU to Produce and Test Renewable Diesel, Biojet and Biogasoline Fuels from Centia Process
May 20, 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.
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Amyris and Crystalsev Form JV for Renewable Hydrocarbon Fuels; Renewable Diesel from Sugarcane by 2010
April 23, 2008
Amyris Biotechnologies, a synthetic biology company focused on developing renewable hydrocarbon biofuels (earlier post), and Crystalsev, one of Brazil’s largest ethanol distributors and marketers, are establishing a joint venture to commercialize advanced renewable fuels—including diesel, gasoline and jet fuel—made from sugarcane.
The partners are targeting their first product, a renewable diesel that works in today’s engines, for commercialization in 2010. Scale-up and testing work to date indicate that this fuel scales more quickly and economically than currently available biofuels, and reduces emissions by 80% over petroleum diesel.
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Shell and Virent Collaborating To Develop Biogasoline From Plant Sugars
March 26, 2008
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| Virent’s BioForming platform can convert a wide range of biomass-derived feedstocks to fuels and chemicals. |
Shell and Virent Energy Systems, Inc., are collaborating on a joint research and development effort to convert plant sugars directly into “drop-in” gasoline and gasoline blend components, rather than ethanol. Such biofuels and components can be used at high blend rates in standard gasoline engines, and could potentially eliminate the need for specialized infrastructure, new engine designs and blending equipment.
Virent is exclusive licensee of an aqueous phase reforming (APR) process—developed by its co-founders Dr. Randy Cortright and Dr. Jim Dumesic at the University of Wisconsin - Madison—for the conversion of readily available biomass-generated sugar feedstocks to carbon-neutral hydrocarbon fuels or hydrogen. (Earlier post.) The sugars can be sourced from non-food sources like corn stover, switch grass, wheat straw and sugarcane pulp, in addition to conventional biofuel feedstock like wheat, corn and sugarcane. The BioForming process is Virent’s first commercial application of the APR pathway.
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Leader Ventures Puts $3M Into LS9
March 04, 2008
Leader Ventures, an investment firm offering blended debt and equity financing, has provided $3 million of equipment financing to LS9, a developer of hydrocarbon biofuels made from diverse renewable feedstocks.
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Centia Biofuels Process Produces Bio-gasoline Similar to Conventional Unleaded Gasoline
January 09, 2008
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| The three stages of the Centia process, with different reforming pathways for different fuels. Click to enlarge. |
Diversified Energy Corporation (DEC) has produced a bio-gasoline fuel very similar to traditional unleaded gasoline using its Centia process, licensed from North Carolina State University (NCSU).
Centia is based on a three-step thermal, catalytic, and reforming process that has the potential to turn virtually any lipidic compound—e.g., vegetable oils, oils from animal fat and oils from algae—into 1-for-1 replacements for petroleum jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline. (Earlier post.)
