Petrol and Diesel from Grasses and Plants

Dr. Ram B. Gupta

Department of Chemical Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849-5127, USA

Phone: 334-844-2013; Email: gupta@auburn.edu; Web: www.eng.auburn.edu/users/gupta

Abstract

Today world is facing two critical problems: (1) high fuel prices, and (2) climatic changes. Both of these are linked to the overdependence on the fossil fuels (petroleum, natural gas, and coal). The transport is almost totally dependent on fossil particularly petroleum based fuels such as gasoline, diesel fuel, liquefied petroleum gas, and natural gas. Of the special concerns are the liquid fuels for use in the automobiles. Hence, there is a widespread recent interest in obtaining liquid fuels from non-fossil sources. The combination of rising oil prices, issues of security, climate instability and pollution, and deepening poverty in rural and agricultural areas, is propelling governments to enact powerful incentives for the use of biomass-based fuels, which is in turn sparking investment.

Production of grain-based ethanol and vegetable-oil-based bio-diesel are being practiced today with difficulties due to the competition with the food supply. Now the industry is looking toward using biomass which does not compete with the food supply; however it is facing unsolved technological/scientific difficulties. Cellulosic ethanol involves the use of expensive cellulase enzymes. Biomass can be gasified to produce synthesis gas which can be converted into liquid fuels by Fischer-Tropsch technology. Another exciting technology is hydrothermal process in which biomass components (cellulose, hemi-celluloses, and lignin) are first depolymerized to their respective monomers, followed by hydrogenation to produce liquid fuels. The process is carried out in sub- or supercritical water, which can utilize wet biomass without any need for drying. Since the carbon dioxide released upon burning of the biomass-based fuels is captured-back in producing new biomass, there is no net emission of CO₂. The technology can significantly address both fuel and climatic challenges as today’s world has a large surplus of biomass or biomass-producing capacity.

Biography

Ram B. Gupta is PWS Distinguished Chair Professor of Engineering and chair of chemical engineering graduate program at Auburn University. He has published numerous research papers and patents on fuels, nanotechnology and supercritical fluid technology, and is the recipient of Distinguished Graduate Faculty Lectureship award (2007) from Auburn University, Science and Engineering Award (2002-2004) from DuPont, Junior and Senior Research awards (1998, 2002) from Auburn Alumni Engineering Council, the James A. Shannon Director’s Award (1998) from the National Institutes of Health, and Young Faculty Career Enhancement Award (1997) from Alabama NSF-EPSCoR. He served on the editorial advisory boards of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (2004-06) and Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine (2005-07), and is currently serving on the editorial boards of Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology, Research Letters in Nanotechnology, and Research Letters in Chemical Engineering. In addition, he is a consultant to various pharmaceutical and energy companies, and is a Fellow of Alabama Academy of Science. He received the B.E. degree (1987) from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee, the M.S. degree (1989) from the University of Calgary, and the Ph.D. degree (1993) from the University of Texas at Austin, all in chemical engineering. He joined Auburn University in 1995, after two-year postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley. His recent books are: Nanoparticle Technology for Drug Delivery (2006, Taylor & Francis), Solubility in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (2007, CRC Press), Hydrogen Fuel: Production, Transport, and Storage (2008, CRC Press), and Gasoline, Diesel and Ethanol Biofuels from Grasses and Plants (Cambridge University Press, 2010).