New Ethanol Technology Turns CO2 into Green Gasoline

Ames, IA.-- “American consumers, environmental interests, and ethanol producers should embrace a new CO2 conversion technology that could use the nation’s existing corn-ethanol and emerging cellulosic-ethanol industry as a platform to cut GHG emissions, double domestic biofuel production and produce green gasoline,” says Dr. Gary C. Young, President of Bio-Thermal-Energy, Inc.  “It is amazing to think that with this new technology, we now have capability to take waste CO2 emissions and turn it into a fuel source for green gasoline that could double the output of an existing ethanol plant without using more corn and without additional government subsidies.  But, that is exactly what this new technology can do,” said Young, who is a Ph.D. level chemical engineer with over 40 years of experience in the oil and gas, food, pharmaceutical, industrial chemical and agricultural chemical industries.

Young said his new technology was prophesized by Dr. George Olah, who won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for work on carbonation chemistry as a future source for energy and economical fuel as existing energy reserves are used by a growing world population and economy.  Young made his comments to 120 university and community leaders in Ames Iowa at the Noon Rotary Club.

“First generation corn-ethanol plants and next generation cellulosic ethanol plants are ideal sources of CO2 because their fermenters produce a relatively pure source of CO2,” stated Young.   “The CO2 can be combined with a variety of other carbonaceous inputs such as biomass, coal, coke, or natural gas and used to produce syngas which can be converted to a variety of fuels including green gasoline using commercially available technologies,” he said.

Young’s technology has been demonstrated and experimentally verified, at a 12.5 ton per day scale on a private research pilot plant in Pennsylvania.    His technology is licensed to Earth Energy LLC, an investment group from Austin,Texas, led by retired General Wesley K. Clark and John Wooley.  They are working with an Iowa-based group, called American Green Gasoline LLC, to finance a third-party engineering, design, and economic feasibility study.  The group plans to engage Technip, Stone & Webster, an international industrial engineering company, with offices in Houston and Claremont California to do the feasibility study and design plans with the intent to develop the first commercial scale project for co-location at an existing ethanol plant that will potentially be located in Iowa.

“With the amount of CO2  that would potentially be taken from ethanol plant emissions and used to produce more transportation fuel, this technology could potentially turn the existing ethanol industry and Iowa into a model for further CO2  reductions addressing climate change mentioned at the President’s Inauguration,” Young said. “Iowa accounts for 26 percent of the national ethanol production and would be an ideal state for constructing the first commercial plant using the technology,” he added.

Young is a native of Nebraska and received his chemical engineering degrees from the University of Nebraska.  He retired from industry, and authored a textbook titled, “Municipal Solid Waste to Energy Conversion Processes” published by Wiley in 2010, before embarking on his current venture in CO2 conversion.  He presently lives with his wife in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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