Utah company develops powdered biofuel


(E. Voegele, 8/18/10, Biomass) Compact Contractors of America LLC, a Utah-based company developing dry algae aviation fuels, recently announced it has sold samples of its powdered algae-based jet fuel to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. According to Robert Fulton, CCA’s chief technologist and founder, the laboratory will conduct testing and evaluation on the fuel for use as a solid propellant for aviation rocket use.

CCA’s technology involves drying biobased feedstock at a specific temperature over a specific period of time, said Fulton. “We use a spray dryer [which is] commercial technology that is currently available,” he continued. “I discovered…that under certain conditions you can actually draw the oils to the surface of the cells while you are removing the moisture from [the feedstock].” The resulting powdered fuel is very conducive to simultaneous combustion, Fulton said, meaning that the sugars, plant material, cellulose and proteins all tend to fire at once. “It does not caramelize and it does not gel, which makes it a good jet fuel,” he continued...

Jatropha Sent To ISS To Make It Better Source Of Biofuel.

Florida Today (8/24, Peterson) reports, "In a Gainesville laboratory, mutant plants created in space are being carefully watched because they could become a source of jet fuel." The plan, jatropha, "produces excellent jet fuel," but because of where it grows on Earth it is very difficult to cultivate. In order to make jathropha a better biofuel source, Vecenergy and the University of Florida "sent jatropha specimens, prepared at Kennedy Space Center, to the International Space Station on the STS-130 in Feburary and on STS-132 in May to be exposed to microgravity, which activates dormant genes." Currently, the first 72 samples are being examined to see if the trip will allow the plant to be "domesticated" and produce more oil. "If the plant mutations created in space produce a variety that can be grown commercially, investors likely would build a processing facility."


Joule Unlimited Co: ‘Fuel from thin air’ [phototrobes] comes closer.

(8/24, BioFuelDigest) In Massachusetts, the secretive Joule Unlimited (then known as Joule Biotechnologies) emerged late last year from “stealth mode” with the startling announcement that their technology could produce up to 15,000 gallons per acre (per year) of drop-in hydrocarbon fuels, using only sunlight, CO2 and (fresh, brackish or saline) water as inputs. The Solar Converter – including radical new micro-organism and a technology known as helioculture – is the heart of Joule’s IP. Did it the announcement change everything? No. Will it change the biofuels competitive landscape? It already has, and conceptually contains those Four Horsemen of a Market Apocalyse that VC so dearly love: disruptive, scalable, competitive, protected technology...