The problem with biogasoline, as is also true for petroleum-based gasoline, is that its antiknock rating will be lower than concentrated ethanol. The latter has lower energy content, but its octane rating is equivalent to mid-grade if not premium gasoline. This is important, if you want your car to have a supercharged or turbocharged engine.

If we were to utilize bio-gasoline, we would have to add 10% or so ethanol as an octane enhancer.

Since spark-ignited engines running on pure alcohol (especially pure methanol) tend to be hard to start, one needs to add ~10-15% gasoline to provide volatility. Hence there is a place for both biogasoline and ethanol (or butanol) in today's biofuel R & D efforts.

APR normally breaks down sugary or alcoholic feedstocks into CO2, H2 and relatively short alkanes. One big advantage is that it relies on catalysts rather than fermentation by finicky bacteria, so it's much easier to scale up to quantities relevant to a refinery. Also, it can handle sugar mixtures, such as the mixture of glucose and xylose produced when cellulose is pulped. Low-value products such as excess glycerol can by be processed as well.

The present project will focus on catalysts that yield somewhat longer alkanes (c5 - c8) that can be used to increase bulk gasoline production without any change to fuel or vehicle specs. Inevitably, a significant amount of hydrogen and gaseous alkanes will be co-produced. The hydrogen can be separated with a molecular sieve used to remove sulfur during fuel finishing. Another application is the catalytic hydrogenation of arbitrary vegetable oils from e.g. algae to increase diesel yield - something that will of interest in e.g. Europe.

Like any sugar conversion process - catalytic or biological - APR also co-produces significant amounts of CO2 and heat. The CO2 can be removed via pressure swing absorption, if desired for e.g. intensive algaculture. Otherwise, it is vented along with the CO2 already produced at the refinery as part of conventional operations. Since the CO2 content of the APR reactor's educts will anyhow be measured for process control, it can be exempted from the total tally used to drive the CO2 emissions certificate trade.

So it's a cellulosic process. Sweet.

Now, how do they address the logistics of getting all of that cellulose to a "bio-refinery"? Perhaps they were thinking of using small scale refineries? No, that would kill the whole economy of scales thing...

I know, let's pyrolyze the cellulose feedstock into bio-oil and then ship it via pipeline. No, that gives up the advantage of using a low temp aqueous reforming process...

Here's an idea: let's get the 101st, Delta, 160th SOAR, and a couple thousand other highly trained soldiers and take over the middle east. What? The Arab D has been depleted?

Screw it. Batteries.

Gee, I'm so happy that one of the oil monopoly companies that are screwing us (think Exxon, $40 billion in profits last year) is now messing with the prospect of competition, entrepreneurship, invention and free enterprise in this country. Betcha that their process is not that effective or efficient, but they have the infrastructure that will be important. A much better bet is found at the Ausra website, which produces electricity for automobiles that is totally clean. A hundred square miles of their easily manufactured solar heat generators will run the country.

If large APR plants are colocated with (1) large algal growing, (2) biodiesel refining, and (3) sewage treatment plants, then wastewater derived nitrogen and phosphorus and APR derived CO2 can feed algae. Then the algae-derived carbohydates and biodiesel-derived glycerine can fuel the APR process. The whole "campus" can also share heat (for heating substrates and algal ponds) so that a minimum is wasted. This scenario is possible in many metropolitan areas across the southern 1/3rd of the US.

Just grow bamboo and harvest it for cellulosic ethanol