The Roundest Fuel That Ever Was – Suburban Propane Acquires a 39 Percent Stake in Oberon Fuels – the How, the Why, the Progress with DME Fuels

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... DME doesn’t stand for Doesn’t Make Emissions or Dirty Methane Eliminated but might as well, since Dimethyl Ether has the potential to do both. Lots of fuels can reduce or eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, and several technologies use methane.

What makes this one so special? Well, DME could also stand for Doesn’t Move, Ever — meaning, in Oberon Fuel’s program it is sourced locally from stranded resource, produced locally at feedstock scale, and used locally. Most renewable fuel technologies hit at least one of these marks, some reach two — Oberon Fuels hits all three which makes it the Roundest Fuel in the world.

Let’s look at it this way — the technology has an estimated Carbon Intensity (CI) value of -278 according to the California Air Resources Board, At $200 per ton for carbon, which is roughly where the Low Carbon Fuel Standard sits these days, that’s around $5.30 for the carbon, add that to the $1.12 for the diesel, you have a $6.40 fuel, per gallon — in terms of value. That drives people to scour the streets looking for feedstock and turning it into Circular-Economy-Gone-Wild’s liquid fuel gold. That’s what makes this the Roundest Fuel in the World.

The 3 Whyfores of rDME

1. DME is the absence of carbon=carbon bonds (black-to—black in our diagram), which reduces the potential for soot. Also, you see that very nice bit of oxygen, the red molecule. Yes, DME is not strictly a hydrocarbon, it carries its own oxygen around with it, how nice of it, like a guest who brings his own fine wines to a party.

2. It handles similar to propane and works in engines similar to diesel, so it’s easier to use in existing heavy transport infrastructure than other relatively novel fuels.

3. You can make it from stranded methane, something the world is all too awash in. Think food waste, seepage from gas wells, dairy waste, landfill waste. Lots of odious things to bring into the circular economy and thereby mitigate. DME is like a big can of Waste BeGone that you spray on emission-related problems.

The 3 Wherefores

1. For some time to come, look for Oberon technology wherever there’s a Low Carbon Fuel Standard — that’s where the economics become liberated. Specifically, think California for now, where there’s waste and heavy transport customers in relative abundance.

2. Where LFCS goes, bio-DME follows. Think Oregon, too, which is almost but not quite an anagram of Oberon — the state has a small but vigorous LCFS of its own. Washington state may follow suit soon, too. There’s talk of an LCFS in the Midwest which the Great Plains Institute is working on. And, there’s talk of expanding an LCFS to the Northeast and New York is leading in that discussion.

3. If an LCFS is not available, what is generally going to be required is a strong heavy transport sector and one committed to “net zero carbon by XXXX”, plus a ready supply of liquid or solid wastes or stranded gases.

Suburban Propane has also committed to provide additional funding to support continued development efforts to begin commercializing a rDME/propane blended product. READ MORE

DigestConnect #27 - Renewable DME fuels for heavy transport Today. DME for heavy transport - the brave new world of DME fuels and the companies bringing this new technology forward. Our guests today are Rebecca Boudreaux, CEO of Oberon Fuels and Mike Stivala CEO of Suburban Propane which just acquired a 39% stake in Oberon. WATCH VIDEO