Features Research & Innovation
Gasoline and diesel produced from ligno-cellulose biomass

Dynamotive Energy Systems Corporation reports the successful production of “significant amounts” of renewable gasoline and diesel from biomass at its research facility in Waterloo, Ont., through a novel two-stage upgrading process of BioOil.

The process developed by Dr. Desmond Radlein and his research team involves pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass to produce a primary liquid fuel, BioOil, which is then hydro-reformed to a Stage 1 gas-oil equivalent liquid fuel. This liquid fuel can either be directly utilized in blends with hydrocarbon fuels for industrial stationary power and heating applications or be further upgraded to transportation grade liquid hydrocarbon fuels (gasoline/diesel) in a Stage 2 hydrotreating process.

The major by-product from lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis is Biochar which has emerging value for soil productivity enhancement and carbon sequestration. Dynamotive markets its Biochar under the trade name CQuest.

Based on initial test and analysis, the Company currently estimates that it can deliver advanced (second generation) fuels from biomass at a cost of less than $2 per gallon of ethanol-equivalent fuel in facilities processing about 70,000 tonnes of biomass per annum (current scale of its 200 tonne per day plant).

According to Dynamotive, yields of diesel/gasoline from BioOil of 37% have been achieved through the Stage 2 upgrading process at bench-scale. The net overall yield from whole biomass to diesel/gasoline is approximately 25%, which the company believes is the highest net yield yet reported.