To evaluate the fuel's viability for commercial vehicles, the company
has signed a fuel testing partnership with Colorado State University.
“With this breakthrough, we’ve been able to turn a problem
into an opportunity,” said Rick Wilson, Ph.D., chief executive
officer of Cobalt Technologies. “Harvesting beetle-killed trees
could produce low-carbon fuels and chemicals, establish a foundation
for a sustainable biorefinery industry and create jobs, particularly
in rural areas. If we use only half of the 2.3 million acres currently
affected in Colorado alone, we could produce over two billion gallons
of biobutanol — enough to blend into all the gasoline used in Colorado
for six years.”
Cobalt Technologies has partnered with Colorado State University to
perform engine testing with a gasoline-butanol blend made with the biobutanol
from beetle-killed wood. The fuel testing will be performed at Colorado
State University’s renowned Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory
under the auspices of the University’s Sustainable Bioenergy Development
Center.
Colorado’s pine forests have been devastated by the mountain pine
beetle, which has infested nearly half of the state’s five million
acres of pine forest. Additionally, millions of acres of lodgepole and
ponderosa pines across the Western United States and Canada have been
infested, with 40 million acres in British Columbia alone. From Canada
to the Mexican border, the destructive path of the pine beetle has left
brown, dead trees, which have little use, pose a significant fire hazard
and threaten communities.
“Clearly, this is a significant achievement and a major step forward
toward the production of cellulosic biofuels. Converting beetle-killed
pine for biofuels is an extremely difficult process,” said Ken
Reardon, professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Colorado
State University. “If Cobalt can convert beetle-killed wood, it’s
likely that the company can make biofuel from almost any cellulosic feedstock.”
Cobalt Technologies converts non-food feedstock, such as forest waste
and mill residues into n-butanol, a product that can be used as a drop-in
biofuel to be blended with gasoline, diesel and ethanol, as well as converted
into jet fuel and plastics, or sold as is for use in paints, cleaners,
adhesives and flavorings.