On Friday, October 13 from 8:30am to 10:00am the management of Vertimass LLC spoke to potential investors, scientists, professionals, academics, and to AU students via teleconference about their firm and strategy.
Vertimass is commercializing a novel catalyst technology that overcomes several barriers that have prevented ethanol from taking over a much larger share of the liquid fuel market. Vertimass’s ethanol can be used in jet fuel and heavy-duty vehicles and, most significantly, does not have to be capped at 10% of the automotive mix. Plus, Vertimass’s ethanol is fungible with petroleum fuels for transport via existing pipelines.
Most fuel ethanol is currently produced from starch in the United States and cane sugar in Brazil, and new technologies are emerging for ethanol production from cellulosic biomass such as wood, grasses, and agricultural and forestry residues. However, most ethanol in the United States is used as 10% blends with gasoline, and current U.S. ethanol production has virtually saturated that market as a result of the “blend wall.” In addition, ethanol’s properties make it ill-suited for air transportation or powering heavy-duty vehicles. Ethanol also suffers from concerns about its compatibility with the existing fuel infrastructure. Thus, even though ethanol is the lowest cost alternative fuel, these factors present a major impediment to expanding production and overall growth in production of sustainable transportation fuels.
To solve these problems, Vertimass LLC, was awarded the exclusive license to a novel catalyst technology developed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory for conversion of ethanol into jet fuel, diesel fuel, and gasoline hydrocarbon blend stocks that are compatible with the current transportation fuel infrastructure. This technology allows ethanol producers the flexibility to make other fuel products that can take advantage of market conditions and break through the ethanol blend wall. Additionally, this simple operation can be bolted onto existing or grass roots ethanol plants with very low capital and operating costs while providing fuel flexibility and possibly replacing dehydration and rectification operations.
For further information please contact Gelvin Stevenson, PhD at gelvin.stevenson@gmail.com.