New technologies set to change the biofuel industry

As biofuel production increases, several new technologies are emerging onto the market which could change the future of the industry.

In this light, Jim Lane of Biofuels Digest has conducted a biofuel analysis of the industry, to uncover which technologies we are likely to see first, and the impact they will have on future production.

American Science and Technology Corporation have developed three catalysts that can deoxygenate the bio oil and produce liquid hydrocarbon with an eight to 12 carbon chain length. This technology will become increasingly important as the fast pyrolysis process becomes more and more attractive.

Bioalgene have developed a new solution which utilises flue gas emissions from power plants to dramatically accelerate the growth of algae as a feedstock source for biofuel. This could have a significant impact on biodiesel and aviation fuel production, as well a military fuels which can be produced from algae grown on coal exhaust and cow manure at scalable sites in Oregon and throughout the US.

Cellulose Sciences International has developed a new pre-treatment process for conversion of biomass into sugars using inexpensive, common chemicals in a manner that allows recovery and recycling so that there is very little consumption. This will lead to a process which uses cheap sugars, providing financial relief to biofuels and biobased chemicals industries.

Cool Planet Biofuels has an idea that is based on sequestration, which runs biomass over a series of reactions, rather than over one magic catalyst in a fluidized bed reactor. Cool Planet CEO Mike Cheiky told Biofuels Digest: "The biomass fractioner is fundamentally different than flash pyrolysis because we fundamentally deconstruct biomass in an orderly fashion, to preserve as much bond energy as possible. By decomposing in orderly process, we dig deeper into the fragments, and this gives us the freedom to prices the carbon in any way we want."

These four examples highlight the rapidly evolving nature of the biofuel industry, and although some experts have cast doubt over whether the industry is capable of matching output of traditional fuel sources, the rapid advances in technology suggests that it is only a matter of time before we see significant production increases.

Posted by Claire Manning