The demonstration plant, located at Virent's facilities in Madison, Wisconsin, is the latest step in a joint biogasoline research and development effort, announced by both companies in March 2008. The demonstration plant has the capacity to produce up to 38,000 litres (10,000 U.S. gallons) per year, which will be used for engine and fleet testing.
This new biofuel can be blended with gasoline in high concentrations for use in standard gasoline engines. The new product has the potential to eliminate the need for specialized infrastructure, engine modifications, and blending equipment necessary for the use of gasoline containing more than 10% ethanol.
Virent's patented BioForming® platform technology uses catalysts to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules like those produced at a petroleum refinery. Traditionally, sugars have been fermented into ethanol and distilled. Virent's 'biogasoline' fuel molecules have higher energy content than ethanol and deliver better fuel economy. They can be blended seamlessly to make conventional gasoline or combined with gasoline containing ethanol.
The sugars can be sourced from non-food feedstocks such as corn stover, wheat straw and sugarcane pulp, in addition to conventional biofuel feedstocks such as wheat, corn and sugarcane. The demonstration plant is currently using beet sugar.
"Moving from lab-scale to a demonstration production plant is an important milestone for biogasoline,'' said Luis Scoffone, Vice President of Alternative Energies at Shell. ''There is some way to go on the route to commercialisation, but we have been delighted with the speed of progress achieved by our collaboration with Virent.''
"The successful start-up, which was on-time and budget, demonstrates the potential for scalable, commercial manufacturing of premium, high quality renewable fuels. Renewable fuels that provide high performance, reliability, and lower emissions are now closer to reality as a viable alternative for transportation fuels from crude oil," said Lee Edwards, CEO of Virent. "Virent's industry leading collaboration with Shell is focused on delivering material solutions to global challenges in energy security, environment sustainability and job creation."
Virent's BioForming process is a leading technology for the production of fungible advanced biofuels, including renewable biogasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Virent has won numerous technology and innovation awards including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge and the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneer awards. Virent is based in Madison, WI, with 80 employees in a world class catalytic biorefining development facility. Virent counts Cargill and Honda among its leading investors and Royal Dutch Shell as a strategic collaboration partner. The BioForming technology is based on the Aqueous Phase Reforming process. To learn more, visit: www.virent.com.
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