A Clear Road Ahead (ClearFlame Engine Technologies)

by Katie Schroeder (Ethanol Producer Magazine) In the pursuit of decarbonization, diesel, the energy-dense fuel that powers industrial and commercial transport globally, is difficult to replace. ClearFlame Engine Technologies has developed a solution to this problem, using a cheaper and lower-carbon fuel: ethanol.

BJ Johnson, CEO and cofounder of ClearFlame, says the company’s technology reduces lifecycle CO2 emissions by over 40 percent per diesel-equivalent gallon. And, even though ethanol has approximately 1.65 times less energy density than diesel, Johnson says ClearFlame’s technology reduces overall fuel costs by 42 percent.

Solving the Energy Problem
ClearFlame was born out of a desire to decarbonize and, somewhat ironically, increase energy consumption simultaneously. Johnson and ClearFlame co-founder Julie Blumreiter completed their graduate degrees at Stanford University. They were inspired by one of their professors, Chris Edwards—a thesis advisor to the entrepreneurial duo—who talked about the two halves of the energy problem, Johnson explains. One half of the problem is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving sustainability, while the other half is rooted in the need to increase energy consumption—where it’s needed, and done right—to improve quality of life in developing countries.

In the U.S., 70 percent of goods are moved via diesel truck, and that percentage is even higher in developing countries, Johnson explains. Nearly a billion people in the world still lack basic access to electricity, and the diesel engine is even more vital in those areas. Ethanol’s affordability and low carbon intensity make it a substitute that addresses both issues. “If we need the diesel engine for driving our local economies and energy equitability, then we need to find a way to detach from the petroleum cost and carbon challenges of petroleum diesel fuel,” Johnson says.

The next step for ClearFlame’s technology is to commercially deploy both trucks and stationary gensets while growing the company’s order book. “Our first sales of both units, the truck and the genset, are, far and away, the biggest goal, after which we can really start to scale in the market,” he says.

“We’ve got five of the ten biggest fleets in the country queued up for pilot demonstrations,” Johnson says, explaining that some pilots were done and others were just beginning. “We’re looking to convert our first orders in the same time frame.”

As of late October, two of the five planned pilot tests had been completed with major fleet owners. One pilot test ran for five weeks and the other for eight, both on their heaviest routes, pulling 80,000 pounds and fueled by E98—almost pure ethanol.

In the five-week test, the truck did one roughly 400-mile shift per day, filling up at 800-plus miles and achieving a 45 percent carbon reduction. The eight-week pilot ran 500 miles per day with roughly 1,000 miles between refills, and achieved 42 percent carbon reduction. “We had 96 to 97 percent uptime and load delivery success across multiple months, so basically comparable delivery metrics to what they get on [diesel],” Johnson says. “It does everything you expect diesel to do, but with an over 40 percent reduction in fuel cost and carbon emissions.” The 42 percent cost reduction is calculated on a per-mile basis using diesel-gallon-equivalent fuel pricing, Johnson explains, saving trucking companies money despite ethanol’s lower energy density.

Range issues are a common concern among potential EV drivers, and though that isn’t an issue for ClearFlame trucks, access to fuel at retail stations is a challenge. Johnson explains that while E98 may be in tanks at many gas stations for blending to make E85 or E15, it’s not available for sale and, if it were, a larger dispenser would be needed to fill the 200- to 250-gallon tanks of semi-trucks. “This particular truck has a 250-gallon tank on it to get a little bit more range, but a 200-gallon tank is more typical,” Johnson says. “Most fleets we talk to actually don’t feel a need to increase their tankage, and just refill a little more often—even if your 1,200-mile-range diesel truck only gets 800 miles on ethanol, that’s still twice as far as you need as far as pitstops,” Johnson says.

Three genset pilot tests were scheduled in 2023: one in July, another in late August, and another that started in October. Johnson explained that gensets can provide vital emergency backup power during natural disasters or power outages. Diesel gensets can only be used in emergency situations due to their emissions performance but ClearFlame’s genset would be clean enough for a business to use day-to-day for “peak shaving,” reducing peak electricity costs for a business or institution, as well as doing demand response with a local utility. EV charging is another important potential use, Johnson explains. EV charging stations are using a growing amount of electricity—an amount some areas of the country do not have the infrastructure to handle—and biofuel-powered gensets are a good solution to that problem. Fuel access would also not be as much of a challenge, since genset units generally carry sizable fuel tanks.

Selling Points
While the economics of ClearFlame engines make sense, Johnson knows many companies will still be drawn to the optics of purchasing EVs. Although ClearFlame’s engine has lower carbon emissions per mile than the average EV, Johnson explains that many companies remain interested in PR value over the actual sustainability of the product. “If you’re looking to get press releases—hate to use the word—but yeah, ethanol’s not as sexy as an EV, and that is coloring some people’s choices,” he says.

ClearFlame’s technology has the potential to help everyday consumers through reducing the cost of goods by bringing down fuel prices, as well as reducing emissions.

Cost reduction is so attractive to companies that even those without sustainability goals are interested, simply because of the practicality of the technology. READ MORE

Excerpt from ACT News: ACT News Talks Tech is a series of interviews with some of the top innovators in the advanced clean transportation sector. Stephane Babcock, GNA’s director of editorial, recently spoke with BJ Johnson, CEO and cofounder of ClearFlame Engine Technologies, about the current state of the heavy-duty commercial transportation market and the challenges fleets are facing in terms of emissions reductions, the advantages of being fuel adaptive, and the results of some current fleet pilot projects. READ/WATCH MORE