United States – Aemetis has received a second patent for technology that allows for the generation of low carbon intensity renewable fuels from waste wood feedstocks.
The patent protects the use of ionic liquids to extract sugars from a wide variety of waste biomass, including forest and orchard wood. This process is expected to provide up to a 90% reduction in feedstock cost and to increase the value of renewable fuels by significantly reducing carbon intensity.
βThis recently patented ionic liquids technology was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission during development by Sandia National Labs, the Joint Bioenergy Institute and Aemetis,β said Goutham Vemuri, VP of Technology Development at Aemetis. βThe process enables waste wood to be used in two important ways as valuable feedstock: extracting sugar for conversion into cellulosic ethanol at our ethanol plant to generate an estimated $5 of revenue per gallon, and converting the remaining lignin into renewable hydrogen for the hydrotreatment of vegetable oils to produce low carbon intensity jet and diesel fuel.β
The first production plant
The first Aemetis Carbon Zero production factory, dubbed “Carbon Zero 1,” is set to open in Central California on the 140-acre Riverbank Industrial Complex, with 710,000 square feet of existing manufacturing facilities.
The USDA, the US Forest Service, the California Energy Commission, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and PG&E are providing funding and other support for the Carbon Zero 1 renewable jet and diesel facility, as well as energy efficiency modifications to the Aemetis ethanol facility.
