Biogasoline

Like traditionally petroleum-derived gasoline, biogasoline is made up of hydrocarbons with 6 (hexane) to 12 (dodecane) carbon atoms per molecule, and can be directly used in conventional internal combustion engines.

Biomass is abstract in nature and used to produce gasoline that generates net-zero carbon emissions through a process called gasification.

There are multi-various methods through which this fuel can be produced; however, determining the optimal gasification route through which to apply a particular feedstock or biomass relies on experimentation and trial and error.

[4] Ethanol works to combat the byproducts produced by many modern day vehicles-such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

[5] Biodiesel works within today's engines, car systems, and corresponding products and requires a small percentage of octane booster to match gasoline.

APR includes processes such as reforming to generate hydrogen, dehydrogenation of alcohols/hydrogenation of carbonyls, deoxygenation reactions, hydrogenolysis and cyclization.

[9] The input for APR is a carbohydrate solution created from plant material, and the product is a mixture of chemicals and oxygenated hydrocarbons.

These are long straight carbon atom chains which differ from the shorter, branched hydrocarbons that make up common gasoline.

In a 2014 experiment, held at the University of California, Davis, researchers used a feedstock of levulinic acid to create biogasoline.

[10] Levulinic acid is derived from cellulose material, such as corn stalks, straw or other plant waste and does not have to be fermented.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University has been researching the production of stable biogasoline in current oil refineries.

[13] Virent Energy Systems, Inc., in conjunction with Marathon Petroleum, has developed a technique to turn plant sugars from wheat straw, corn stalks, and sugarcane pulp into biogasoline.

This biogasoline is intended to match the chemical, kinetic, and combustion characteristics of its petroleum counterpart, but with much higher octane levels.