Athens, Ga.
– An innovative process for turning waste biomass—such as dead trees,
agricultural waste and lumber byproducts—into a liquid fuel to power
conventional engines has been licensed by the University
of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.
to Tolero Energy, LLC, a private biofuels company based in Sacramento, Calif.
The technology represents a leap forward for the biofuels industry: the ultra-low-sulfur
biofuel does not require additional refinement or processing before blending
with biodiesel and petroleum diesel.
The exclusive license provides Tolero Energy global rights
to the technology, including the right to grant sublicenses.
Tolero CEO Chris Churchill said the company will focus on
the transportation fuels market as it completes development of the UGARF
bio-oil technology. He expects to make product based on the technology available
in the first half of 2010.
Lead inventor of the technology is Tom Adams, a retired member
of the University
of Georgia Faculty of
Engineering. Co-inventors are John Goodrum, Manuel Garcia-Perez, Dan Geller and
Joshua Pendergrass—all presently or previously associated with the UGA Faculty
of Engineering.
“Fuel produced through this efficient technology, which uses
dead biomass as the starting material, holds the promise of being highly
economical, carbon-negative and environmentally acceptable,” said Adams, now an
engineering consultant.
Tolero will use this low-cost, on-site process to turn
non-food, waste biomass into sustainable and renewable forms of energy and
industrial products. The biomass is heated at carefully controlled high
temperatures in the absence of oxygen, a process known as fast pyrolysis. The
vapors produced during pyrolysis rapidly condense into a bio-oil that can be
added to biodiesel or petroleum diesel. Other pyrolysis by-products are gas and
bio-char, which can be used as a soil amendment.
Dead trees are one of the major sources of waste biomass for
Tolero, said Churchill. He explained, “Infestations of the mountain pine beetle
have devastated forests in the western United
States and Canada, killing over 40 million
acres of pine trees. As the trees decompose and decay, they release millions of
tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, and the devastation has created a significant
and dangerous fire hazard in the western forests.
“Harvesting dead trees and forest residue and converting them
to renewable fuel and soil amendment products will help reduce the CO2 released
into the atmosphere and reduce the fire danger. The recent fire in the Los Angeles foothills,
which was fueled by years of highly flammable dead biomass build-up, is a prime
example of a situation where this technology can be put to use. Tolero has the
capability to establish pyrolysis facilities to process the dead underbrush and
convert it to a renewable fuel that is easy to transport,” Churchill said.
Tolero also will convert other types of cellulosic biomass,
such as agricultural waste and waste wood pallets, into renewable
transportation fuels, heating fuels, soil amendments and industrial products.
“We are glad that our new business partner, Tolero, will be
using biomass waste as starting material for the production of biodiesel,” said
Gennaro Gama, senior technology manager at UGARF charged with the management of
UGA’s bioenergy technologies. “Not only is this approach socially responsible,
since it does not employ food crops as the source of biofuels, it also is ecologically
sound, as it will open areas to reforestation and at the same time lead to the
production of cost-efficient, sulfur-free fuels,” he said.
“This commercialization approach perfectly reflects the
social and ecological concerns of UGA’s bioenergy researchers and the research
partnership formed with Tolero,” Gama concluded.
UGARF performs the technology transfer function for the University of Georgia, taking assignment of patents
and licensing such patents to the private sector in return for royalty income
to support the research mission of the university. To learn more about technology
commercialization at the University
of Georgia, see http://www.ovpr.uga.edu/tco/industry/.
Tolero Energy LLC focuses on renewable transportation fuel
from waste biomass. More information is available at www.toleroenergy.com.
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