Apr 12 2010
Cobalt Technologies, a company engaged in marketing biobutanol as a renewable fuel and chemical, has announced the feasibility of producing biobutanol using beetle-killed lodge-pole pine as a raw material. Cobalt is said to be the pioneer to develop an alternative for petroleum and petrochemical products by utilizing beetle-killed lodgepole pine. The company has entered into a fuel testing arrangement with Colorado State University for understanding the viability of biobutanol fuel production for use in commercial vehicles.
Currently, the company is engaged in converting non-food feedstock including wastes from forests and residue from mills into n-butanol. The fuel is adaptable for multiple uses by mixing with ethanol, diesel and gasoline; can be changed into plastics or jet fuel; or can be used as is in the preparation of paints, adhesives, cleaners and flavorings.
Presently, 2.5 million acres of the 5-million-acre pine forests in Colorado suffer pine beetle devastation. Also, millions of acres lands with lodgepole and ponderosa pine trees in Canada and the western United States have been infested. The dead trees have little or no use and often create fire hazard. Cobalt’s technology thus serves as a way to convert destruction into an opportunity and has embarked on this rather difficult task of making bio-fuel from beetle-killed pine, which can create jobs in rural areas and lead to the establishment of a sustainable biorefinery and the production of low-carbon chemicals and fuel. Tapping even 50% of the ravaged forests for this purpose is said to be capable of yielding more than two billion gallons of bio-based butanol, which can serve the state’s requirements for about six years.
Ken Reardon who works as Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering department at Colorado State University has stated that the new findings would allow the production of biofuel from any type of cellulosic feedstock in future.
Source: http://www.cobalttech.com