Purdue Scientist Develops New Biofuel Process

Purdue University says a new process for creating biofuels developed by one of the school's researchers has potential to be priced competitively with crude oil.

The H2Bioil method was created in the West Lafayette, IN laboratory of Chemical Engineering Professor Rakesh Agrawal. The process exposes biomass such as switchgrass to pressurized hydrogen and heats it to about 900 degrees Fahrenheit. Catalysts then separate oxygen from carbon molecules, making the carbon rich in energy.

A Purdue economic analysis shows that the biofuel's cost can be competitive when crude oil is about $100 per barrel. The method has worked on a laboratory scale and is being refined so it could become effective on a commercial scale.

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research funded the research.

Previously Agrawal was employed for more than two decades with Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., where he was elected to the highest technical position in the company, an Air Product Fellow, before moving to Purdue in 2004. His technical contributions towards improving the energy efficiency of separation plants producing industrial gases such as O2 and N2 from air, and in the general area of gas liquefaction and separation, has led to 116 US patents and 500 international patents along with several peer-reviewed publications.

H2Bioil has significant advantages over traditional standalone methods used to create fuels from biomass, including higher yields. Once the process is fully developed, due to the use of external hydrogen, he expects the yield to be two to three times that of the current competing technologies.

The economic analysis finds that the energy source used to create hydrogen for the process makes the difference when determining whether the biofuel is cost-effective. Hydrogen processed using natural gas or coal makes the H2Bioil cost-effective when crude oil is just over $100 per barrel. But hydrogen derived from other, more expensive, energy sources—such as nuclear, wind, or solar—drive up the break-even point.

Agrawal and colleagues Fabio Ribeiro, Purdue Professor of Chemical Engineering, and Nick Delgass, Purdue’s Maxine Spencer Nichols Professor of Chemical Engineering, are working to develop catalysts needed for the H2Bioil conversion processes. The method’s initial implementation has worked on a laboratory scale and is being refined so it would become effective on a commercial scale.

The model used assumed that corn stover, switchgrass, and miscanthus would be the primary feedstocks. The analysis also found that if a federal carbon tax were introduced, driving up the cost of coal and natural gas, more expensive methods for producing hydrogen would become competitive.

The U.S. Department of Energy and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research funded the research. Agrawal and his collaborators have applied for a U.S. patent for the conversion process.

NAFA Fleet Management Association
125 Village Blvd., Suite 200
Princeton, NJ 08540

Telephone: 609.720.0882 Fax: 609.452.8004