A California Company Develops Nanotechnology Combining Ethanol with Corn Oil for a New Blendstock that Reduces Diesel Emissions

by Debbie Sniderman (Ethanol Producer Magazine/VI Ventures LLC) One of the biggest technology upgrades for the ethanol industry in the past decade has been corn oil extraction. If Virginia Klausmeier and the team she leads at Sylvatex have their way, the next will be upgrading that corn oil, combined with first-generation ethanol, into a new advanced biofuel, applying ethanol’s well-known oxygenate benefits to improve emissions in diesel fuels.

The process for creating low-emission diesel fuels is similar to gasoline: Blend oxygenates with diesel fuel to reduce the overall carbon content and emissions of harmful substances released into the air. Klausmeier is CEO of San Francisco-based Sylvatex Inc., a company founded by her father, who developed a process to create an alternative diesel fuel that blends ethanol with free fatty acids (FFAs) to produce a low-emission fuel that not only reduces NOx (nitrogen oxides) and particulate emissions when blended with ultra-low sulfur diesel and B100, but does so without affecting engine performance.

Sylvatex’ process takes ethanol and encapsulates it in a nanosized particle that enables suspension in a mid-distillate product. It creates an alternative fuel blend that is not a mainstream renewable diesel nor biodiesel. “Using ethanol as the oxygenate in this alternative fuel blend allows for increased emission reductions. It also allows there to be a secondary use for a product that is available in large supply. Opening new markets for ethanol producers can increase energy security, use more local resources, and upgrade diesel fuel for the users,” Klausmeier says.

“It’s important to realize that ethanol is not blended directly into diesel fuel, it’s not stable,” she continues. “It’s separated out and encapsulated into a stable nanostructure. These nanoparticles are so small that they remain intact as they go through the fuel system until combustion. They’re not filtered out, and fuel that has these particles behaves the same until they combust. The nanostructure is an important part to creating a low-carbon fuel overall and lower emissions at the tailpipe.”

In the past year, Sylvatex and its partners developed a way to use FFAs from corn oil, which over the past five years has become a commodity coproduct of ethanol production. The eventual goal and advantage of colocation is to obtain both inputs from the ethanol facility. “A 50 million-gallon ethanol facility produces about 3 million gallons of corn oil, which after being hydrolyzed and treated, could be used directly as an FFA input,” Klausmeier says. “By being located on-site, it is possible that both key inputs can come from the ethanol production’s back end.”

End users who use low-emission diesel and marine fuels can extend the lives of their fleets and access emission-controlled areas quicker. Feedstock providers can diversify and enter new growing markets that value carbon. “Our process produces a very low-cost product and is scalable. Ethanol can come from any feedstock, so as ethanol producers evolve over time, they can continuously satisfy the diesel fuel market as they grow,” she says.

Sylvatex is also working with a number of thought leaders to develop standards and pathways for approval at the state and federal level, and has been successful in California so far, Klausmeier says. READ MORE