Biofuels

Biofuels

Concerns regarding the availability, sustainability and environmental effects of fossil fuels have prompted a demand for transportation fuels made from renewable feedstocks that can replace a meaningful percentage of crude oil-derived fuel, yet none of the presently available biofuels or biofuel technologies appears capable of meeting this demand.

Using biogas as a feedstock, the product from the GRT Technology is a renewable fuel that can serve as a drop in replacement for gasoline and middle distillate fuel blending components.

Despite many years and hundreds of millions of dollars of private sector and government-funded research, along with statutory mandates and subsidy incentives, ethanol produced from corn or sugarcane remains the only renewable fuel produced at a significant volume.

In the U.S., the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 mandates the incorporation of biofuels (other than corn ethanol) into the nation’s gasoline supply. Beginning with a requirement of 100 million gallons of biofuel in 2010, the volume requirement increases each year, peaking at 15 billion gallons in 2020. Though the 2010 volume represented less than 1/10 of 1% of the annual gasoline demand, the EPA determined that too little qualifying fuel would be available and reduced the requirement by 93.5 million gallons to 6.5 million gallons. Hopes that the lack of biofuel was a first year aberration were dashed when the EPA proposed a reduction of the 2011 minimum from 250 million gallons to less than 18 million gallons.

Using the renewable biomass currently available in the U.S., 15 trillion cubic feet of biomethane could be produced and converted using the GRT Technology into almost 15 billion gallons of renewable fuel.