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Carbon Sciences announces solution for users of ExxonMobil gasoline process
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NEW TECHNOLOGY Carbon Sciences announces solution for users of ExxonMobil gasoline process Carbon Sciences Inc announced that the company’s clean CO2-based technology could produce synthesis gas (syngas) from natural gas to feed operations using ExxonMobil’s proprietary methanol-to-gasoline process. ExxonMobil has developed a proprietary methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) process that converts natural gas to high quality clean gasoline when coupled with syngas and methanol synthesis technologies. MTG gasoline is fully compatible with conventional refinery gasoline and can be either blended with conventional refinery gasoline or sold separately with minimal further processing. Sundrop Fuels, a startup venture backed by Chesapeake Energy Corp and two venture-capital firms, Oak Investment Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, recently announced plans to use the ExxonMobil MTG process to make gasoline from methanol. Sundrop intends to rely on forest waste as a feedstock to produce the syngas required for the first step. The other commercially demonstrated route for transforming natural gas into transportation fuels is the widely known Fischer-Tropsch process (FT), discovered in the 1920s. Royal Dutch Shell, SASOL and other large energy companies have commercially used FT in several different forms to produce fuels from natural gas. Carbon Sciences’ CO2-based technology is also the preferred route to make the syngas needed for FT operations. Marketwire, 10 Jul 2012, (Website: http://www.marketwire.com)
Southern Company Services to install Akermin’s carbon capture pilot plant Akermin Inc, which has devised a biocatalyst delivery system to capture and remove carbon dioxide, has inked an agreement with Southern Company Services to demonstrate its carbon capture technology in a pilot project at the National Carbon Capture Center in AL, US. The pilot
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plant is being developed under a grant from the US Department of Energy. The pilot plant will test the efficiency of biocatalyst delivery system in capturing carbon dioxide. The company is expecting that this new plant will help to capture more than 90% of incoming carbon dioxide. Original Source: CTBR Clean Technology Business Review, 17 Jul 2012, (Website: http://www.cleantechnology-business-review.com/) © CTBR 2012
USPTO grants Butamax a further KARI enzyme patent Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, the biobutanol technology leader, announced the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Butamax Patent Number 8,222,017, which protects a subset of key enzymes in the isobutanol production pathway. This latest patent issued from a series of applications covering a full-range of modified ‘KARI’ (ketol-acid reductoisomerase) enzymes. Butamax inventions include recombinant microorganisms that convert various feedstocks to biobutanol, process engineering for recovering biobutanol produced during fermentation, engineering design for optimised energy integrations, and various renewable fuel and chemical compositions. PR Newswire, 17 Jul 2012, (Website: http://www.prnewswire.com)
China sets up Nd-BR project and hits high on carbon black
PATENTS Fungal enzymes for making fermentable sugars from cellulosic materials An extensive patent (137 pages) from one of the leaders in enzyme technology which describes how enzymes obtained from geneticallymodified fungi can enhance the conversion of cellulosic materials to glucose. US 8,236,551, Codexis Inc, Redwood City, CA, USA, 7 Aug 2012
Saccharifying cellulose using an ionic liquid Treatment of lignocellulase with an ionic liquid softens it and allows the cellulase enzyme more easily to be attached. US 8,236,536, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA, 7 Aug 2012
Efficient process for making bioethanol A process for making ethanol from xylose and glucose without the traditional fermentation step which wastes a third of the carbon in the form of carbon dioxide. The first step makes acetic acid, which is then hydrogenated to to ethyl acetate. The hydrogen for this step is made from the lignin. US 8,236,534, Zeachem Inc, Golden, CO, USA, 7 Aug 2012
China has commenced an initiative to study the chemistry, engineering and practicality of a pilot-scale reactor to support the development and production of neodymium-catalyzed butadiene rubber (Nd-BR). The fouryear project involves the country’s leading research institutions and universities including Karamay Petrochemical, Xinjiang Science and Technology Agency, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Meanwhile, the country’s carbon black output hit 3.4 M tonnes in 2010, with capacity at 5 M tonne/y and average capacity utilization at only 70%.
Oxidative dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons uses CO2 and O2 mix as the oxidant
Original Source: Plastics and Rubber Asia, May 2012, 27 (190), 1 (Website: http://www.plasticsandrubberasia.com/) © Plastics & Rubber Asia Ltd 2012
Oxidative dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons, eg of ethylbenzene to styrene, usually uses oxygen with
Catalyst for converting ethanol to nbutanol The process uses a novel strontium phosphate catalyst having the apatite crystal structure. It converts ethanol to n-butanol in the gas phase at 200350°. US 8,232,433, Kochi University, Kochi, Japan, 31 Jul 2012
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NEW TECHNOLOGY Carbon Sciences announces solution for users of ExxonMobil gasoline process Carbon Sciences Inc announced that the company’s clean CO2-based technology could produce synthesis gas (syngas) from natural gas to feed operations using ExxonMobil’s proprietary methanol-to-gasoline process. ExxonMobil has developed a proprietary methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) process that converts natural gas to high quality clean gasoline when coupled with syngas and methanol synthesis technologies. MTG gasoline is fully compatible with conventional refinery gasoline and can be either blended with conventional refinery gasoline or sold separately with minimal further processing. Sundrop Fuels, a startup venture backed by Chesapeake Energy Corp and two venture-capital firms, Oak Investment Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, recently announced plans to use the ExxonMobil MTG process to make gasoline from methanol. Sundrop intends to rely on forest waste as a feedstock to produce the syngas required for the first step. The other commercially demonstrated route for transforming natural gas into transportation fuels is the widely known Fischer-Tropsch process (FT), discovered in the 1920s. Royal Dutch Shell, SASOL and other large energy companies have commercially used FT in several different forms to produce fuels from natural gas. Carbon Sciences’ CO2-based technology is also the preferred route to make the syngas needed for FT operations. Marketwire, 10 Jul 2012, (Website: http://www.marketwire.com)
Southern Company Services to install Akermin’s carbon capture pilot plant Akermin Inc, which has devised a biocatalyst delivery system to capture and remove carbon dioxide, has inked an agreement with Southern Company Services to demonstrate its carbon capture technology in a pilot project at the National Carbon Capture Center in AL, US. The pilot
SEPTEMBER 2012
ON
C ATA LY S T S
plant is being developed under a grant from the US Department of Energy. The pilot plant will test the efficiency of biocatalyst delivery system in capturing carbon dioxide. The company is expecting that this new plant will help to capture more than 90% of incoming carbon dioxide. Original Source: CTBR Clean Technology Business Review, 17 Jul 2012, (Website: http://www.cleantechnology-business-review.com/) © CTBR 2012
USPTO grants Butamax a further KARI enzyme patent Butamax Advanced Biofuels LLC, the biobutanol technology leader, announced the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Butamax Patent Number 8,222,017, which protects a subset of key enzymes in the isobutanol production pathway. This latest patent issued from a series of applications covering a full-range of modified ‘KARI’ (ketol-acid reductoisomerase) enzymes. Butamax inventions include recombinant microorganisms that convert various feedstocks to biobutanol, process engineering for recovering biobutanol produced during fermentation, engineering design for optimised energy integrations, and various renewable fuel and chemical compositions. PR Newswire, 17 Jul 2012, (Website: http://www.prnewswire.com)
China sets up Nd-BR project and hits high on carbon black
PATENTS Fungal enzymes for making fermentable sugars from cellulosic materials An extensive patent (137 pages) from one of the leaders in enzyme technology which describes how enzymes obtained from geneticallymodified fungi can enhance the conversion of cellulosic materials to glucose. US 8,236,551, Codexis Inc, Redwood City, CA, USA, 7 Aug 2012
Saccharifying cellulose using an ionic liquid Treatment of lignocellulase with an ionic liquid softens it and allows the cellulase enzyme more easily to be attached. US 8,236,536, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH, USA, 7 Aug 2012
Efficient process for making bioethanol A process for making ethanol from xylose and glucose without the traditional fermentation step which wastes a third of the carbon in the form of carbon dioxide. The first step makes acetic acid, which is then hydrogenated to to ethyl acetate. The hydrogen for this step is made from the lignin. US 8,236,534, Zeachem Inc, Golden, CO, USA, 7 Aug 2012
China has commenced an initiative to study the chemistry, engineering and practicality of a pilot-scale reactor to support the development and production of neodymium-catalyzed butadiene rubber (Nd-BR). The fouryear project involves the country’s leading research institutions and universities including Karamay Petrochemical, Xinjiang Science and Technology Agency, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Meanwhile, the country’s carbon black output hit 3.4 M tonnes in 2010, with capacity at 5 M tonne/y and average capacity utilization at only 70%.
Oxidative dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons uses CO2 and O2 mix as the oxidant
Original Source: Plastics and Rubber Asia, May 2012, 27 (190), 1 (Website: http://www.plasticsandrubberasia.com/) © Plastics & Rubber Asia Ltd 2012
Oxidative dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons, eg of ethylbenzene to styrene, usually uses oxygen with
Catalyst for converting ethanol to nbutanol The process uses a novel strontium phosphate catalyst having the apatite crystal structure. It converts ethanol to n-butanol in the gas phase at 200350°. US 8,232,433, Kochi University, Kochi, Japan, 31 Jul 2012
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