All I Need Is the Air that I Breathe: The Search for Better Sources for Octane and Better Uses for Aromatics

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) In Washington, a new report concludes that emissions from petroleum-based gasoline “are one of the biggest health threats facing the American public”. The report links a wide range of respiratory and even neurological diseases to toxic carcinogenic compounds refiners used to increase octane in gasoline.

Let’s look in more depth at the topic of what we do with aromatics. You see, they do have high-value uses though combustion may not be one of them.

The fact book

The fact book, which can be downloaded here, documents the alarming rise in air pollution and the direct correlation to increasing concentrations of benzene and other toxic compounds in gasoline that have replaced lead. The report indicates that “compounds have been strongly linked to health issues such as cardiopulmonary disease, lung cancer, breast cancer, asthma, premature birth, low birth weights and even autism.”

The Aromatics alternative: The Anellotech story

Using aromatics for renewable chemical applications, and making them from renewable resources, that’s the thesis from technology pioneer Anellotech, Axens and IFP, and customers like Suntory who want to make renewable clear plastic bottles.

The clean air backstory

In April we reported that ethanol blends reduce toxic tailpipe emissions by up to 50%, significantly improving air quality and protecting public health, according to two new studies. The separate studies were conducted by the North Carolina State University (NCSU) and the University of California Riverside (UCR). The Urban Air Initiative (UAI) commissioned both independent studies to evaluate tailpipe emissions using fuels similar to what consumers can buy at the gas station, instead of laboratory created test fuels.

And, last month we reported that the Urban Air Initiative released a report that found that most vehicles on the road today can adapt to mid-level ethanol blends, helping cars run more efficiently while reducing greenhouse gas emissions along with other pollutants. The study was conducted by North Carolina State University and commissioned by the Urban Air Initiative.

In April 2017, we reported that the Urban Air Initiative called the results of a new Coordinating Research Council emissions study one more example of the biased and flawed testing procedures used to penalize ethanol. The CRC’s match blending of test fuels fails to recognize how ethanol truly performs in real world fuels, the group said. And this inaccurate data will be used by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue limiting the use of higher ethanol blends.

Reaction from stakeholders

“Light duty vehicle exhaust emissions are the predominant source of hazardous air pollutants that represent an exposure risk to urban residents and anyone living near a major roadway,” said David VanderGriend, president of the Urban Air Initiative. “These lethal pollutants can be directly traced to the 25-30% of gasoline additives that petroleum refiners use to increase octane.”

CFDC member Doug Sombke of Farmers Union Enterprises said, “This research makes it clear that mobile source emissions are out of control—literally. Current EPA programs and models are faulty and fail to recognize the impacts of real-world fuels. If we did not learn anything from Dieselgate (the Volkswagen emissions scandal), when computers told us all is well when in reality we were polluting the air, then shame on us because the same thing is happening with gasoline.”

Perhaps even more critically, Anellotech’s advances are showing that their renewable aromatics are becoming a reality and that cleaner, better uses such as renewable, clear plastic bottles (that, we might add, can and will be recycled in great numbers) offer an interesting “circular carbon storage” option that stands in contrast to efforts to develop permanent carbon storage through practices such as injecting CO2 into oil wells to reduce the cost of petroleum production. READ MORE