Technology Paths

Today, the routes for producing bio-based fuels are:

First generation biofuels:

• Fermentation of sugar-rich crops to ethanol (an additive to gasoline).
• Esterification of vegetable oils into biodiesel (an additive to diesel fuel).

Next generation paths:

• Pyrolysis (of wood) to Pyrolysis oil, a form of bio-crude, that can be refined into fuel.
• Gasification of biomass, followed by Fischer-Tropsch to create an FT wax, that can be refined into fuel
• Growing algae and extract the oil, that can be refined into fuel.
• Chemical (catalytic) transforming / refining. This is JetE's path.

 

JetE's Technology Path

There are many technical and logistical issues involved in converting biomass into finished fuels.

Rather than attempting to simultaneously overcome all the challenges inherent in the many complex processes needed to go all the way from biomass to finished fuels, JetE is taking a Phased / Modular approach.

Our first module starts with feedstocks where nature has already done much of the work. This module we call the Microfiner, which refines triglycerides, such as oils and fats into what petroleum refiners refer to as middle distillate fuels, commonly known as diesel and jet fuel.

To develop this module, we integrated chemical (catalytic) and distillation processes into a small integrated system. We are in the process of seeking patent protection for our integrated Microfiner system.

The initial unit we are developing is the Microfiner 200j. This unit will convert 200 barrels of triglyceride feedstock into approximately 7,500 gallons of D975 diesel fuel per day. The unit will also be capable of producing a combination of jet and diesel fuel.

Of our two products, diesel fuel and jet fuel, the jet fuel is the most valuable. It is also the most challenging to produce. Petroleum based jet fuel consists of blends of over a thousand chemicals, primarily hydrocarbons (paraffins, olefins, naphthenes and aromatics) as well as additives such as antioxidants and metal deactivators. We are designing the Microfiner 200j to be capable of producing a military jet fuel (JP-type) known as synthetic isoparaffinic kerosene. We expect this fuel to meet specification MIL-DTL-83133E.

We believe it is prudent to first perfect and deploy our Microfiner technology, utilizing available bio oil feedstocks. While keeping our primary focus on the Microfiner development, we are developing relationships with research institutions and industry partners to develop future modules that would broaden the available feedstock to our system. We expect future feedstocks to include things such as:

• Algae oil
• Sugars, such as hexoses (six carbon sugars) and pentose (five carbon sugars). Glucose is a common hexose and xylose is a common pentose.
• Pyrolysis oil
• FT wax