The greening of gasoline

The liquid - known as green gasoline - is the chemical equivalent of traditional gasoline, but cleaner and less expensive. According to its inventor, that means the green gas, also referred to as grassoline, has the potential to transform the economy.

“The goal is to make all of the same compounds you can make from petroleum,’’ said George Huber, the professor leading the research. “When you look at biomass versus crude oil, biomass is significantly cheaper.’’

Huber estimates that once perfected, his technique would be able to produce the equivalent of three barrels of oil for between $30 and $100. By comparison, the price of barrel of crude oil has steadily risen over the past few months to about $70.

Huber said he is working to commercialize the technology through Anellotech Inc., which he cofounded in November. Anellotech doesn’t yet have a headquarters, but the fledgling company is applying for grants and raising funds from investors. Within two years it plans to open a demonstration plant that would employ 25 people. The first commercial plant could be operating within five years, the company said.

Huber said his technology could be used in existing vehicles without engine modifications and estimates it one day may meet as much as 50 percent of the country’s current petroleum needs.

Jim Motavalli, author of “Forward Drive: The Race to Build ‘Clean’ Cars for the Future,’’ said technologies like the one being developed by Anellotech are not yet competitive with those used by traditional oil producers. But they are getting closer, he said, and got a boost in May, when President Obama proposed changes to the 2007 Renewable Fuel Standard, a law aimed at reducing dependence on foreign energy. Those rules call for the United States to produce 16 billion gallons of fuel from cellulosic sources by 2027.

“As much as half the gasoline sold in the US could come not from distant Middle Eastern oil fields, but from homegrown, renewable crops,’’ Motavalli said. “Unlike . . . ethanol, this plant-based fuel will be chemically identical to the gasoline we use today and could be used immediately in our current network of more than 160,000 gas stations.’’

To convert biomass into a gasoline, the source material, often called feedstock, is loaded into a sieve. While sawdust is the most abundant resource, the process can be used on most any organic substance, including the inedible part of corn stalks, algae, and sugarcane waste. The sieve separates the biomass into particles, which are then loaded into a chamber of a device that Huber calls a catalytic fast pyloric reactor.

“This is where the chemistry happens,’’ he said.

In the reactor, the biomass mixes with a catalyst made of silica and alumina. The reactor heats the biomass to between 400 and 600 degrees Celsius, causing it to decompose. The product that comes out of a condenser is green gasoline.

Motavalli said green gasolines won’t be carbon neutral - they will still be burned in engines - but are significantly better for the environment than petroleum-based fuels and “will result in dramatically reduced greenhouse gas emissions.’’

David Sudolsky, who has served as chief executive of several start-ups, including New York-based GT3 Bioenergy Inc., contacted Huber after reading an article Huber published in a scientific journal. By November, he had signed on to be Anellotech’s chief executive.

“It’s not ethanol or a new fuel,’’ Sudolsky said. The materials used to make biomass fuel are “commodity products with a ready market,’’ he said.

Anellotech - like companies that sell gasoline - would rely on volume to make a profit. Huber estimates the margin to be just three to five cents per gallon, but that the first commercial plant would be able to produce 30 million to 40 million gallons per year.

“The long-term plan would be to work with strategic partners to license the technology in other places all over the world,’’ Sudolsky said.

The demonstration plant, and possibly the first commercial plant, may be built locally, but a bigger plant capable of processing upward of 100 tons of biomass per day and producing 300 million gallons of green gasoline annually would need to be near a source - next to a logging operation, for example.

“This is an excellent technology that makes a lot of sense,’’ Sudolsky said. “There are a lot of strong, competitive advantages that make this product exciting.’’

Correction: Because of a reporting error, a story in Monday’s Business section incorrectly stated the anticipated profit margins for Anellotech Inc.’s “green’’ gasoline. University of Massachusetts professor George Huber, the company’s founder, estimates a profit of between 50 cents and $1 per gallon.