11-01: Hydrocarbon Fuels from Plant Biomass

In this paper we’ll discuss the conversion of renewable plant carbohydrates to hydrocarbon fuels, by fermentation of carbohydrates to isobutanol followed by catalytic conversion of the isobutanol to fuel blend stock, gasoline, jet & diesel fuel components. Bioethanol has provided an excellent start to sustainable, domestically produced renewable fuels entering the fuels market.  Additionally ethanol has provided an infrastructure of expertise that is extremely valuable to support the development and commercialization of advanced biofuels.  One of the remaining challenges is completing the conversion of plant matter into fuels and blend stocks that fit, without special rules, exactly into the existing infrastructure for crude oil derived transportation fuels and vehicles.  Ultimately, this means producing sustainable hydrocarbons from biomass. A number of companies are pursuing the production of hydrocarbons from plant biomass utilizing a variety of thermochemical and biochemical approaches.  The approaches will be compared and contrasted to the approach proposed in this paper.  Data using our approach for the conversion of sugars to isobutanol and conversion of isobutanol to a high value gasoline blend stock, jet fuel and terepthalic acid, will be shown.