EPA approves 20% blend of renewable gasoline

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved registration for VertiGas20, a renewable gasoline product, to be sold as 20% blends in conventional gasoline to help mitigate transportation carbon emissions.

VertiBlue Fuels, LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Blue Biofuels and Vertimass, will start producing this renewable gasoline as one of the first products coming from the production capacity that VertiBlue Fuels will realize. VertiGas20, is made from renewable ethanol by the joint venture’s licensed technology from Vertimass: Consolidated Alcohol Deoxygenation and Oligomerization (CADO) technology. (Earlier post.)

CADO offers a novel route for 100% conversion of ethanol and other alcohols into hydrocarbons using single-step, low-pressure, low-temperature process without need for hydrogen. Vertimass CADO conversion is accomplished in a single reactor system using a metal exchanged zeolite catalyst.

VertiGas20 is a new generation of fuel which can be used in current gasoline vehicles (approximately 340 million in the US alone) without any engine modifications. This will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing cars and other gasoline-powered engines.

Blue Biofuels is planning to produce cellulosic biofuels which will further reduce the greenhouse gas emissions either when the cellulosic ethanol is used as direct blend in fuel or if it is converted into gasoline or SAF for use in transportation.

Blue Biofuels is based in Florida and has the goal to produce biofuels through its patented Cellulose-to-Sugar (CTS) technology and its licensed Vertimass technology. CTS is a sustainable, and renewable green energy system with the potential to achieve a near-zero carbon footprint. The CTS process can convert virtually any plant material—grasses, forestry products, and agricultural waste such as sugarcane bagasse and wheat straw—into sugars and lignin.

Sugars are subsequently processed into biofuels, such as ethanol and sustainable aviation fuel, and lignin may be further processed into a variety of products. The CTS process is a patented and proprietary technology wholly owned by Blue Biofuels.