Researchers call their new process “complexogeneous” catalytic
thermal decomposition, as it combines aspects of both homogeneous and
heterogeneous catalysis. It uses homogeneous catalytic pressure and
temperature with the speed of the heterogeneous catalytic process,
according to Charles Wang, manager of international offices for the
company. “People neglect one important thing: that earth helps to
transform biomass to gasoline/diesel 99 percent by using the
homogeneous catalytic process and millions of years,” Wang said.
“Fossil fuel refiners just do 1 percent of the job. In our idea, fossil
fuel also is biomass, which is a middle process status between biomass
and gasoline/diesel.”
The process, dubbed the ‘FM New Petroleum Project’ after its
inventor, who does not want to be named, uses one stove instead of two
to produce fuel with the same chemical components as regular gasoline
or diesel. The stove was designed by Ji Zhong Wei Ltd. researchers,
according to Wang. It does not require any external gasoline or diesel
fuel, as some biodiesel and bio-gasoline companies do, Wang said. It
actually takes biomass and converts it directly to regular gasoline or
diesel fuel. “That means that this is not a partial replacement for
current fuel, it is a complete replacement of it,” Wang wrote in a
letter. The process also makes gas and biocarbon.
Biomass feedstocks used at model production lines in China include
corn stalks, manure, woody biomass, municipal waste and ocean biomass.
The two models online now have the capacity to produce at least 5,000
tons of fuel per year, if run 24 hours per day, and the feedstock
supply does not compete with the food supply, Wang emphasizes. Its
feedstock diversity also presents possible solutions to problems like
waste disposal, by making use of feedstocks already available and
usually considered waste. “Coupled with American industry, we strongly
believe that our technology can be scaled out … by increasing factory
sizes,” he wrote.
Wang says the new technology has three main benefits: reduce or
possibly end dependence on fossil fuels; spur creation of a domestic
and new energy bio-industry; and dramatically reduce or end waste and
pollution of industry, forest, harvest and human life. “This is a
technology that will revolutionize the current petrol industry in
America and around the world,” Wang wrote.
Tests and production samples show a ratio of 3:1 of biomass to fuel
production, meaning that 5,000 tons of gasoline or diesel can be
produced from 15,000 tons of biomass, according to Wang.
“To protect the auto industry is the main goal of our technology,”
Wang wrote. In the long term, it will provide a renewable resource and
lower gasoline prices, he said. Second, since the fuels have the same
chemical components as regular gasoline and diesel, the auto industry
does not have to retrofit its products, he added. The most important
aspect is that biomass gasoline and diesel help reduce 90 percent of
the pollution caused by fuels produced from fossil fuels, according to
Wang. Also standing to benefit are the farm, forest and animal
husbandry industries, he added.
The researchers are looking for ways to scale up their process.
“Right now, we face some challenges in the United States,” Wang said.
“Since United States biofuel level is only in the first step … and many
U.S. scientists can’t believe that Chinese researchers achieved this.”
