Two research teams announce breakthroughs in converting cellulose to gasoline; Sustainable Power expected to announce biocrude expansion in Central America

In Massachusetts, a group of researchers at the University of Massachusetts announced, in the latest edition of Chemistry & Sustainability, Energy & Materials, a new “green gasoline” process that directly converts plant cellulose into the chemical components of gasoline, while a companion article by researchers at the University of Wisconsin reported on a “green gasoline” process that yielded the chemical components of jet fuel in an integrated process.

In Texas, Sustainable Power Corporation, a pioneer in the catalyst-based production of bio-crude, said that the president of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen) had joined the company’s board and would be on hand Wednesday to announce a major expansion of the company’s biocrude production capacity in Central America. In all three cases, the research teams and Sustainable Power heat cellulose in the presence of catalysts, and in the cooling process produce complex hydrocarbons found in fossil fuels.

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