Triple play boost could tip the market in favour of biomass

MADISON, Wisconsin: Technologies for converting nonedible biomass into chemicals and fuels traditionally made from petroleum exist aplenty.

But when it comes to attracting commercial interest, these technologies compete financially with a petroleum-based production pipeline that has been perfected over the course of decades.

But by developing a new process for obtaining not one, but three high-value products from biomass in one fell swoop, University of Wisconsin–Madison engineers and their collaborators have now made that leap.

The researchers, led by James Dumesic, professor of chemical and biological engineering, published their results in the journal Science Advances.

Their new process tripled the fraction of biomass converted to high-value products to nearly 80 per cent, also tripling the expected rate of return for an investment in the technology from roughly 10 per cent (for one end product) to 30 per cent.

“When a technology is new and risky, proving its economic feasibility and profit potential is critical for attracting investors,” says David Martin Alonso, the study’s first author and a researcher in chemical and biological engineering. “That’s why we are very excited about its 30-per cent internal rate of return.”

Larry Clarke, Glucan Biorenewables CEO, will use his company’s platform to scale up the process and help realise its market potential.

“Since this simple, yet elegant and robust technology provides multiple value chain options, I believe it has the potential to transform the global biomass industry,” he says. — Newswise

UW–Madison engineers (from left) David Martin Alonso, James Dumesic and Ali Hussain Motagamwala, examine a vial of furfural, one of a group of valuable products the researchers can now create as part of the biofuel refining process. — Photo by Steph Precourt/ UW–Madison