Biocatalysis

Here’s an amusing news item. According to researchers at the Biotechnology Foundation Laboratories at Thomas Jefferson University, tobacco could be a superior biofuel crop. By genetic modification, the oil accumulation in tobacco leaves was increased to 6.8% of dry weight. With tobacco leaf productivity near 1.5 tons per acre, adding the oil in leaves to the oil in tobacco seeds ((approximately 0.24 tons/acre), the total oil yield could increase to as high as .34 tons, or 90 gallons, per acre — 60% higher than oil yields from soybeans.

Just when you think the biofuels industry is running out of ideas, a new one emerges. Enter nitrile biofuels, touted as having higher-energy content than the first generation biodiesel products that are based on fatty acid esters. The company Western Biofuels (interestingly with a Miami, FL address) is developing high-energy biodiesel (HEBD) and said it plans to build a 1.4 Mgy demonstration plant in Guatemala.

Biodiesel production converts triglyceride oils into fatty acid methyl esters, generating vast amounts of glycerine as a byproduict. The enormous glut of glycerine has depressed the market price to near zero.  Crude glycerine prices have dropped as low as $0.02 per pound last year before recovering to $0.06 – $0.10 per pound. But a small company in Virginia called Xcel Plus has found a use for all that glycerine byproduct–make it into fuel.

The Xcel Plus process cracks glycerine into two fuels, one of which (at around 50 percent by weight) is Glyclene and is suitable for turbine engines for power generation. 

The potential to convert crude glycerine to fuel has the potential to generate a profit stream either to refiners such as Xcel Plus, or to biodiesel producers in the form of higher prices for crude glycerine. Xcel Plus estimated that there is more than 150,000 tons of crude glycerine produced by biodiesel operations in the US. Xcel Plus said in January that it had contracts for up to 200 million gallons of GlyClene.

One final player in the hydrocarbons as biofuels derby: UOP, the Des Plaines, IL-based venerable petroleum-cracking catalyst developer. UOP is actually owned by Honeywell, but for its biofuels work, partnerships have been initiated with Albemarle Corporation and the US DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). The product development efforts are focused on Green Diesel and Renewable Jet Fuel.

Developing cracking catalysts to convert biofeedstocks, such as oil from plants and algae, into green diesel is well within the scope and capabilities of UOP. Working under a $6.7 million contract from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), UOP is also developing technology to produce renewable JP-8 jet fuel for military aircraft. UOP’s technology produces a renewable jet fuel that meets key jet fuel specifications including a freeze point at -47 ^oC and a flash point of 38 ^oC- making it a promising fuel solution.

As with some other companies, the only thing “bio” about UOP’s work is the feedstock; the process appears to be entirely based on inorganic catalysts, as one would expect from a company that has made its reputation developing these to crack petroleum. I would bet on UOP to be a survivor in the space, if there are any survivors. 

We are in the midst of a series of posts on leading biofuels companies, and I wanted to add an update for anyone just now joining in to follow this. Who are the major players, how are they funded, what is their technological edge, if any: these are some of the questions we will try to answer. We will be opinionated at time, and may even be so bold as to predict who wins and loses.

To set up this series we need to define our terms and scope. When we discuss biofuels we will be talking about transportation fuels, and replacing or at least reducing the requirement for gasoline derived from petroleum. This includes ethanol, higher alcohols, hydrocarbons, and biodiesel as potential biofuel products. We will profile the leading companies in developing technology to produce these products, as well as some of the companies that are developing technology that will support or improve biofuels production in the future. Stay tuned, and please contribute comments. We like to hear from you, even if you don’t agree.