Virent wins EPA Green Chemistry Prize for drop-in fuels solution

In Wisconsin, Virent Energy Systems was awarded the EPA’s Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Small Business Award for its development of a proces to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon fuels. Virent was ranked #3 in Biofuels Digest’s 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy for 2008-09.

Virent CTO Randy Cortright told Chemistry World that “Virent’s ‘Bio-forming’ process produces between 30 and 50 per cent more energy per acre of biomass than ethanol for any given crop. And because the hydrocarbons produced are the same as those found in fossil fuels, vehicles do not need to be modified to use the biofuel as they would if they were to run on ethanol.”

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