• Virent Energy Systems: A Non-Bio Route to Bio-Gasoline

  Filed under Biofuels companies, biofuels
  Mar 16
  Similar to Range Fuels in its technology is Virent Energy Systems, Inc. But the product is different. The company uses a completely thermo-chemical conversion process to covert cellulosic waste into bio-gasoline, bio-aviation fuel or kerosene, and biodiesel. As with Range Fuels, the only thing “Bio” about Virent Energy’s process is the feedstock, as the process is entirely based on heat, pressure, and chemistry. Indeed, VIrent actually promotes its non-bioprocess with the catch-phrase “Catalysts, not Bugs.” Virent calls it a Bioforming Platform that is carbon neutral and has near zero of those nasty carbon dioxide emissions.

  Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Virent Energy has a decent pedigree, and the backing of Cargill, Honda Motor Company, and the Advanced Technology Program of NIST (to the tune of $11 million). Virent just hired in January 2009 a new CEO from British Petroleum with a background in both the oil industry and renewable technologies. The company’s technology won the 2008 ICIS Chemical Business Innovation Award for the Best Innovation by a Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise. The company also lists a collaboration with Royal Dutch Shell on the development of its biogasoline technology, touting its ability to make hydrocarbons rather than ethanol. (Did you know this Codexis and Iogen?) VIrent and Shell have been working together since 2007. The technological breakthrough is backed by patent applications that began publishing in September 2008. If it pans out, is the conversion of carbohydrates directly into hydrocarbons. Since the feedstocks would be non-food based and the fuel products of Virent would be a drop-in replacement for existing transportation fuels, the company says its biofuel products would have “immediate market acceptance.” They claim immediate market acceptance for good reason: Virent’s products would be the nearly the chemical equivalent of gasoline, require no modification of engines to be burned, and need no modification of infrastructure to be piped and transported. The Bioforming Process can, according to the company, produce a wide range of industrial chemicals as well as fuels. Hmm. Maybe this is where the early applications of the technology will end up. Virent itself says its technology is only competitive when crude oil is above $60 per barrel, and as petroleum prices have plummeted from their highs and the values for industrial chemicals are much higher than the values for fuels, maybe the near-term focus will change. 

  Tagged as: bio-gasoline, biofuels, Biofuels companies, Virent Energy Systems
  
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