US-EPA Green Chemistry Prize Awarded to Biofuel Hydrocarbon Production Process

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Small Business Award was presented to Virent Energy Systems (a biofuel producer), for its "development of a cost-effective and energy-efficient method of turning plant sugars into hydrocarbon fuels". The production technology (called "BioForming"®) involves a combination of "aqueous phase reforming" and a synthesis reaction using a solid catalyst to eventually convert plant sugars to a fuel-grade hydrocarbon mixture (a synthetic "biogasoline" of sorts). The aqueous phase reforming process initially converts the plant sugars into a gas mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, while the solid catalyst subsequently converts the gas mixture into a hydrocarbon cocktail that is similar to those produced from a conventional petroleum refinery. According to Randy Cortright, Virent's Chief Technical Officer, the process "produces between 30 and 50 per cent more energy per acre of biomass than ethanol for any given crop. And because the hydrocarbons produced are the same as those found in fossil fuels, vehicles do not need to be modified to use the biofuel as they would if they were to run on ethanol".

Related information on aqueous phase reforming process: http://www.wisbiorefine.org/proc/apr.pdf