Shell, Virent collaborating to develop biogasoline

March 26, 2008
Royal Dutch Shell signed a 5-year R&D agreement with Virent Energy Systems, Madison, Wis., involving technology to convert plant sugars directly into gasoline blend components.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Mar. 26 -- Royal Dutch Shell PLC signed a 5-year research and development agreement with Virent Energy Systems Inc. of Madison, Wis., involving technology to convert plant sugars directly into gasoline blend components.

Although declining to give product specifics, Virent said its proprietary process, Bioforming, produces a biofuel that could be used at up to 50% blend rates with standard gasoline in standard gasoline engines.

The emerging technology uses catalysts to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules like those produced at a refinery. Traditionally, sugars have been fermented into ethanol and distilled in a process that takes days.

Virent converts a sugar-water solution into biogasoline using a catalytic reactor process. It takes less than 2 hr to run the solution across the reactor system, spokesmen said.

Randy Cortright, Virent cofounder and executive vice-president, said, "Virent has proven that sugars can be converted into the same hydrocarbon mixtures of today's gasoline blends. Our products match petroleum gasoline in functionality and performance."

Cortright along with Graeme Sweeney, Shell executive vice-president, future fuels, said the process remains in the research stage. They declined to list chemical specifics of the resulting product or product production costs, pending more research.

Sweeney said a small pilot demonstration plant might be constructed in 2 years if laboratory results are successful. During a Mar. 26 teleconference call with reporters, Cortright said the process can handled a mixture of various sugars.

The catalytic process uses various biomass-derived feedstocks, Cortright said. Biogasoline molecules have higher energy content than ethanol or butanol and deliver better fuel efficiency, he and Sweeney agreed.

Biogasoline could be blended to make conventional gasoline or combined with gasoline containing ethanol.

The sugars can be sourced from nonfood sources like corn stover, switch grass, wheat straw, and sugarcane pulp, in addition to conventional biofuel feedstock like wheat, corn, and sugarcane.

Future efforts will focus on further improving the technology and scaling it up for possible commercial production.

"The technical properties of today's biofuels pose some challenges to widespread adoption," Sweeney said. "Fuel distribution infrastructure and vehicle engines are being modified to cope, but new fuels on the horizon, such as Virent's, with characteristics similar or even superior to gasoline and diesel, are very exciting."

Sweeney said biogasoline could be transported in existing pipelines unlike ethanol. Virent said its technology is based on the Aqueous process, which Virent exclusively licensed from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Shell already is working with Virent on separate hydrogen fuel research.