Here are a few of the latest startups we've spotted promising cheaper, easier ways to turn organic material into fuel:
Minnesota undergraduates use "Mcgyan Process" to produce cheap biodiesel -- Ever Cat Fuels claims its proprietary technology, dubbed the "Mcgyan Process" (after the names of the inventors McNeff, Gyberg and Yan), can convert most feedstocks into biodiesel without producing too must waste or consuming much water -- a technology loftily deemed "one of modern day's great discoveries" by Augsburg President Paul Pribbenow. A highly efficient metal oxide catalyst accelerates the continuous, or "flow," process, in a fixed bed (tubelike) reactor.
Unlike conventional biodiesel production, which can take several hours to complete and often produces waste, the Mcgyan Process only takes a few seconds to complete. Ever Cat Fuels is building a $5 million plant in Isanti, Minnesota, that could eventually generate over 3 million gallons of biodiesel each year. The ambitious start-up is eyeing algae as its first potential source of feedstock oils.
UMass researchers develop cheaper, "green" gasoline -- No, that's not a typo: A team of researchers at UMass, Amherst, led by chemical engineer George Huber, has developed a new process to refine hydrocarbons from cellulose. This "green" petroleum can be produced from a variety of biomass sources, including feed stocks, wood scraps and corn husks, and, because it's made of hydrocarbons, can be pumped directly into existing car engines. To produce this gasoline variant, Huber heats cellulose in the presence of solid catalysts and rapidly cools the products -- leaving behind a liquid containing most of the compounds found in gasoline, such as toluene and naphthalene. It needs only a moderate amount of heat and takes less than 2 minutes to complete. Once the process hits a 100% yield -- it's at 50% now -- Huber estimates that it could eventually drop the price of gasoline to around $1 dollar per gallon
UT researchers create biofuel-secreting bacteria -- University of Texas scientists R. Malcolm Brown Jr. and David Nobles Jr. have created a strain of bacteria that produces a form of cellulose that can be easily broken down into simple sugars.The genetically modified bacteria, which also secrete glucose and sucrose -- two simple sugars that are used to produce ethanol -- need only saltwater and nutrients to grow. According to Brown and Nobles, they can easily be grown in most locations, avoiding the need to displace valuable farm land. No word on the eventual pricing of the fuel, though we expect it'll be around $1 a gallon -- that number seems to be quite popular these days.