Gasifying Biomass with Sunlight

A solar-driven process could yield far more fuel than conventional biomass production.

Sundrop Fuels, a startup based in Louisville, CO, says it has developed a cleaner and more efficient way to turn biomass into synthetic fuels by harnessing the intense heat of the sun to vaporize wood and crop waste. Its process can produce twice the amount of gasoline or diesel per ton of biomass compared to conventional biomass gasification systems, the company claims. Read the rest of this entry »

Biofuels from Saltwater Crops

A research project will make jet fuel without wasting fresh water or farmland.

A project in the Middle East aims to make jet fuel from saltwater-tolerant crops grown in the desert. Researchers at the Masdar Institute in the United Arab Emirates are starting a two-square-kilometer demonstration farm that will combine fish and shrimp farming with the cultivation of mangrove trees and salicornia, a plant with oil-rich seeds that can be converted into fuel. Read the rest of this entry »

Commercializing Garbage to Ethanol

Startup Coskata has opened a “semi-commercial” ethanol plant to demonstrate its technology.

A startup that is developing a process to convert a wide range of materials, including wood chips and garbage, into ethanol has moved a step closer to commercializing the technology. Today Coskata, located in Warrenville, IL, is unveiling what it calls a “semi-commercial” plant that will be used to demonstrate that its technology can work at a commercial scale. Read the rest of this entry »

Biofuel from Sewage

Qteros forms a partnership to use sewage as a feedstock for making ethanol.

These days, more and more companies are finding that sewage is a veritable “black gold.” In recent years, sewage sludge has been mined for electricity, fertilizer, fish food, and gasoline. Now two companies have partnered up to turn sewage into ethanol. While others have worked to produce ethanol from municipal solid waste, sewage from wastewater has been a relatively unmined ethanol source. Read the rest of this entry »

Converting Garbage into Fuel

Waste Management, a large waste company, gives technology for gasifying trash a boost.

Waste gasification, a process for converting garbage into fuel and electricity without incinerating it, may be a step closer to large-scale commercialization. Last week, Houston’s Waste Management, a major garbage-collection and -disposal company, announced a joint venture with InEnTec, a startup based in Richland, WA, to commercialize InEnTec’s plasma-gasification technology.

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Biomass as Electricity is efficient than Biomass as Fuel

Biofuels vs. Biomass Electricity

Findings show that turning biomass into electricity is more beneficial than turning it into transportation fuels.

A study published today in Science concludes that, on average, using biomass to produce electricity is 80 percent more efficient than transforming the biomass into biofuel. In addition, the electricity option would be twice as effective at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. The results imply that investment in an ethanol infrastructure, even if based on more efficient cellulosic processes, may prove misguided. The study was done by a collaboration between researchers at Stanford University, the Carnegie Institute of Science, and the University of California, Merced.

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