Huber receives national recognition for green energy biofuels research
Chemical engineer George Huber, whose quick, single-step process for turning sawdust, plant stalks and other cellulosic waste into green gasoline was featured in a recent cover story in Scientific American magazine, has again received high-profile, national recognition for biofuels research, this time in the National Science Foundation’s online magazine, Science Nation.
NSF sent an Atlanta-based cameraman and editor to Amherst to shoot a five-minute video in June.
In it, Huber collects wood chips from Cowls Sawmill in Amherst, and then is later seen sifting sawdust into a catalytic reactor in the campus laboratory where he and colleagues produce the precursor to green gasoline, diesel and home heating fuel. The process has a neutral carbon footprint because it recycles carbon dioxide, Huber explains. Further, its use requires no modification to current facilities such as refineries and gas stations because biofuel products are indistinguishable from those made of petroleum oil.
“Anything you can make from crude oil, we believe in the next 10 to 20 years, we can make from biomass,” says Huber. People “are going to pull up to the gas station and they’re going to put green gas in their cars and not even know they’re putting green gas in the car. All the changes will be made on the front end at the biorefinery. Rather than refining crude oil, we’re going to be refining biofuel.”
In the video, Huber explains the chemical process he developed and comments on the abundance of cheap feedstocks for biofuels. The NSF video emphasizes Huber’s contribution to the nation’s energy and environmental security by reducing our dependence on imported oil.
UMass Amherst has already licensed Huber’s startup company, Anellotech, to use his catalytic fast pyrolysis technique in a commercial biofuels venture. Anellotech is now negotiating with suppliers for one ton per day of feedstock for the pilot facility in the Orchard Hill area of Springfield, and company hopes to open a commercial biofuel production plant by 2014.
In the cover story of the July issue of Scientific American Huber and a co-author predict that if the United States maintains its commitment to biofuels over the next 15 years, the number of vehicles powered by biofuels could “fundamentally change the world.” They say first-generation biofuels such as ethanol can only meet about 10 percent of demand, but newer, second-generation technologies such as Anellotech’s should produce commercial amounts of biofuel within the next 10 years. Best of all, these are expected to come “at a price that can compete with gasoline.”
In the same week his expert opinion was featured in the national magazine, Huber briefed congressional staffers at a Washington, D.C. event sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Discovery magazine. His 20-minute presentation was followed by a lively Q&A from congressional staffers and the audience. His talk is available at www.discovermagazine.com.
With the U.S. Department of Energy, Huber and colleagues estimate that new techniques should yield 100 billion gallons of biofuels, or about half our current annual consumption.
Success in replacing our current unsustainable dependence on foreign oil would realize a long-held dream for Huber. Only half joking, he ruefully points out that chemical engineers “helped get us into this mess” by cleverly developing ways to turn fossil fuels into hundreds of products we now find hard to live without. To his way of thinking, it’s only fair that now the next wave of clever chemical engineers should help us kick the old habit by helping to develop a sustainable green energy future.
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Huber video link
August 20, 2009.
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