Bioroot Energy, Inc., a Delaware corporation based in western Montana, is dedicated to rapid development of Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) fuel projects designed to convert municipal solid and liquid wastes, biomass, petroleum coke, coal, methane and CO2 into clean, powerful higher mixed alcohol fuels and specialty chemical alcohols. Our goal is to help cities and industries reduce the practice of landfilling and incineration of carbon wastes through production of clean, biodegradable alcohols. Our mission is to balance local and regional business interests, diverse engineered technologies and feedstocks, project finance, and environmental factors, with responsible, clean and profitable liquid fuel generation. Bioroot Energy plans to build, own and operate higher mixed alcohol production facilities located at the intersection of major transportation and distribution networks. Continuous production of a superior, biodegradable alcohol fuel, profitably produced from solid, liquid and gaseous wastes and fossil carbon resources, is a powerful energy and waste industry solution, and the scalable foundation of a significant global economic development opportunity.
Gasification & Incineration: What’s The Difference?
Gasification was first developed in the 1800s and has been used commercially throughout the world for over a century. Today, the majority of operating gasification plants produce chemicals, fuels, electricity, and fertilizers. Here’s a map of known gasification projects worldwide. The most common misconception of gasification is the assertion that “gasification is just another form of incineration.” Modern gasifiers do not have smokestacks, while all incinerators have stacks to vent combustion emissions. There are over 30 different makes and models of gasifiers available for a wide range of applications, ranging from pyrolysis (or partial gasification) designs used to convert biomass into biochar or convert shredded tires into synthetic diesel fuel, to extra-clean smokestack-free gasifiers that cleanly gasify coal, municipal solid/liquid wastes, hazardous wastes, and sewer sludges. There are significant differences in the various gasifier designs, emissions and range of feedstocks, as well as scalability considerations. While incineration and gasification technologies may seem similar, the energy resource from incineration of feedstocks is open combustion and high-temperature heat, whereas the main energy resource from gasification is intermediate synthetic gas (CO, H2 syngas) which can either be combusted to produce electric power or cleanly converted via gas-to-liquid (GTL) catalysis or syngas fermentation processes to liquid fuels and a variety of chemical compounds. Synthesis gas (CO + H2) conversion is an important process in the reformation of municipal solid and liquid wastes, coal and biomass into fuel and biochemical products. In gasification either a single feedstock or multiple feedstocks are converted by high temperature and conversion conditions are carefully controlled so that prior to exit, nearly all carbon content is converted into CO and H2 syngas. Non-carbonaceous materials which are not converted into syngas, such as metals, glass, rock, sand, dirt or concrete, are slagged out, either as ash, or a molten pour of obsidian-like, inert vitreous glassy slag, depending on the gasifier design. The ash is considered toxic waste and must be landfilled. Glassy slag can be safely landfilled as it will never leach. Extra-strong slag also has multiple commercial uses as an abrasive element, building materials or road base. A number of factors contribute to growing interest in gasification, including volatile oil and natural gas prices, more stringent environmental regulations, and a growing consensus that CO2 management should be required in power generation and liquid fuel production.
Alternative Fuels Primer
Want to better understand first generation renewable fuels, such as corn ethanol and biodiesel and next-generation advanced biofuels? There are significant differences in the fuels, feedstocks and underlying process technologies, how well each fuel performs, and how much each fuel costs to produce.
Fuel Types
- Biodiesel: Made from oil crops or animal fats and trans-estrification processes: Converts greases and plant oils into a cleaner bio-oil which has thermal gelling problems in winter and is not highly biodegradable. Biodiesel floats on water just like petroleum oil does. Processes are difficult to scale, cost per gallon highest of all biofuels on the market today. Waste french fry grease and soy beans are the two most prevalent oil feedstocks used to produce biodiesel. There is growing support for cultivating hemp for producing oils which can be converted to usable fuels as well. Biodiesel combusts cleaner than petroleum-derived diesel, and it can either substitute for petroleum diesel in warmer climates or be utilized as a volumetric blendstock to petroleum diesel, especially in colder climates. Biodiesel like other oils still floats on water and does not readily biodegrade, although biodiesel will break down in the natural environment faster than crude oil or petroleum-derived fuels.
- Corn Ethanol: Currently produced via four-day batch fermentation from corn using acidic enzymes and yeasts while offgassing beer fizz CO2. Ethanol is a superb alcohol fuel, yet fermentation methods most commonly used to produce it are not very energy efficient. Domestic production of corn ethanol is currently near 14 billion gallons per year, and the volume of corn ethanol allowed in domestic fuel supplies is capped at 15 bgpy. Current volumes of ethanol production and blending with fuel stocks equate to about 10% of U.S. unleaded gasoline volume, consuming over 30% of the U.S. corn crop. Ethanol is water soluble, biodegradable, features a 107 octane rating and provides 2/3s of the BTUs per gallon when compared to gasoline.
- Cellulosic Ethanol: Produced from ground biomass (corn cobs, corn stalks, wood chips) via a longer, seven-day batch fermentation process converting wood, stalks or cobs into sugars then using yeasts to further convert sugars into EtOH. Converting biomass cellulose into EtOH requires more acidic, more expensive enzymes plus traditional yeasts. Ligno-cellulosic ethanol fermentation produces only about 1/3 of the alcohol volumes per batch when compared to four-day batch fermentation of ground corn. Mother nature’s biobugs invade seven-day batch cooking processes and typically contaminate every third batch. Ligno-cellulosic ethanol fermentation is not likely to scale, it is far more expensive than batch fermenting ground corn. Two-carbon ligno-cellulosic Ethanol is water soluble and it easily biodegrades.
- Synthetic Ethanol: Produced via thermal conversion (gasification) of solid biomass feedstocks, which generates an intermediate synthetic gas (CO and H2) which is then run through gas to liquid catalysis producing a blend of formula-patented C1 to C10 higher mixed alcohols. Ethanol then needs to be fractionalized and distilled out of this blend of alcohols after first removing the C1 methanol portion. It is very expensive to isolate EtOH in this manner. Synthetic ethanol (like fermented corn ethanol) features 75,500 BTUs per gallon, about 2/3rds the energy density of gasoline.
- Methanol: Produced via thermal conversion (gasification) of solid carbonaceous feedstocks or steam reformation of methane natural gas. This GTL process first generates an intermediate synthetic gas (CO and H2) when solids are gasified or CO and H2, H2, H2 when methane gas is steam reformed. This intermediate syngas is then run through gas to liquid methanization catalysts in use worldwide since 1923. Synthesis of single carbon MeOH requires 10-12 passes of syngas across the catalyst which is somewhat process intensive. Methanol contains 56,000 BTU’s per gallon, about one-half the energy density of gasoline yet can be produced commercially from stranded sources of methane natural gas for about 25¢ per gallon. Methanol is the largest volume chemical produced on the planet (used to produce plastics, nylon, rayon, paints, varnishes, thinners, window washing solvent) yet MeOH has been purposefully kept out of the petroleum-derived fuel pool for the past 100 years. C1 Methanol (octane rating 107) was used as a neat, substitute fuel in Indy 500 race cars for 37 years until it was politically replaced about four years ago with C2 corn ethanol. Water soluble and oil soluble, Methanol is highly biodegradable in the natural environment.
- Dimethyl Ether: Made via thermal conversion (gasification) of feedstocks, which generates an intermediate synthetic gas (CO and H2) which is then run through gas to liquid catalysis. Dimethyl Ether or DME (formula CH3OCH3) is a pressurized, gaseous fuel (similar to propane) which combusts cleaner than C3 hydrocarbon propane does because the ether molecule contains a missing Oxygen atom. Dimethyl ether is a two-carbon, oxygenated gas which provides less BTU strength than does propane yet it combusts much cleaner than does propane. The use of DME in transport would require tanks of 125 psi pressurized gas to be retrofitted to truck and buses. Conventional autos are presently not being converted to combust pressurized DME.
- Higher Mixed Alcohol Fuel: This formulated blend of synthetically-produced alcohols includes methanol, ethanol, propanol, butanol, pentanol, hexanol, heptanol, octanol, nananol and 10-carbon decanol. Higher mixed alcohol fuel features a 120+ octane rating and 96,000 BTUs per gallon, which is 20% stronger BTU energy content than ethanol. In larger commercial GTL facilities higher mixed alcohols can be produced for less than $1.00 per gallon using a process similar to the methanol chemistry set used worldwide since 1923. Like methanol and ethanol, the blend of higher mixed alcohols is both water soluble and oil soluble, plus it is coal soluble and easily biodegrades in the natural environment.
In addition to direct economic benefits, mixed alcohol fuel use will reduce industry and social costs by:
- Reducing volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate exhaust, carbon monoxide, Benzene, 1,3 Butadiene and other harmful emissions.
- Reduce problematic cost-consuming waste by turning it into a high-value biodegradable fuel.
- Utilize carbon dioxide as a low-cost carbon feedstock rather than venting it as a costly pollutant.
- Production of mixed alcohol fuel will be near zero emissions, unlike oil refineries and ethanol plants which generate large volumes of air pollutants.
- If ignited, mixed alcohol fuel can be immediately quenched with water. Spills of this fuel in waterways will feed living phytoplankton at the base of the planet’s food chain. Thus mixed alcohol fuel is very attractive in reducing environmental liabilities.
- Allows countries to build self-reliance using existing resources, improving infrastructure, creating jobs and reducing imports of foreign energy sources.
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