Blue Biofuels, Inc., a technology company, focuses on emerging technologies in renewable energy, biofuels, and lignin.
In early 2018, the company invented a new technology system referred to as Cellulose-to-Sugar or CTS, and the company filed a process patent application for this technology. The CTS patent was awarded in 2021 in the United States (U.S. Patent No. 10,994,255) and also in El Salvador. The company also filed an application for this patent in other major jurisdictions of the world,...
Blue Biofuels, Inc., a technology company, focuses on emerging technologies in renewable energy, biofuels, and lignin.
In early 2018, the company invented a new technology system referred to as Cellulose-to-Sugar or CTS, and the company filed a process patent application for this technology. The CTS patent was awarded in 2021 in the United States (U.S. Patent No. 10,994,255) and also in El Salvador. The company also filed an application for this patent in other major jurisdictions of the world, including the European Patent Organization, Australia, Brazil, China, Japan, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization, and Russia. The patent applications are pending in all of these international jurisdictions. In addition to this patent, the company has received one additional patent (for which it has also applied for in all the above mentioned jurisdictions), one continuation patent pending, and provisional patent applications for two additional patents that are pending.
The patented CTS process is a continuous mechanical/chemical dry process for converting cellulose material into sugar and lignin, as compared to the prior batch process that the company previously licensed. The CTS process creates molecular contact between two reactive solid components instead of other systems where the reaction takes place between two liquid or gas components in a batch process. The reactants are the feedstock, which is broken down into its components being sugars and lignin; a catalyst, which is abundantly available in the market from regular suppliers; and it is separated from reactor components and reused. The CTS mechanical/chemical process allows for exact process control to ensure that all the material passing through it does so on the optimum reaction parameters through which optimal efficiency is achieved.
The CTS system converts plant-based feedstock into one primary product, soluble sugars, which can be further processed into cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels like jet fuel, and potentially into bio chemicals.
CTS has different co-products than other processes. The company's primary co-product is pure lignin. Other industries like the paper industry produce lignin that is contaminated by chemicals like sulfur. Other cellulosic ethanol processes do not yield chemically clean high purity lignin because their processes chemically alter or contaminate the lignin. Most ethanol producers use corn, not cellulose, and the co-products of corn ethanol production are distillers grains animal feed and corn oil. The company's lignin can potentially be used in ion exchange resins or specialty chemicals. Lignin can also be burned as a renewable fuel.
At a commercial scale, the company expects to be able to produce ethanol at a lower cost per gallon than existing commercial corn or cellulosic ethanol producers due to the fact that the CTS process is robust, uncomplicated and efficient, and is expected to use low-cost feedstocks and have a potentially high value by-product. The company also expects to potentially receive a highly valued D3 RIN for each gallon of ethanol it produces.
The company has built several prototypes of the CTS system to further develop the process. The company finalized its parameter optimization when it was able to convert 99% of the cellulosic material into soluble sugars suitable for further processing into cellulosic ethanol. In 2022, the company partnered with K.R. Komarek to build its CTS machines going forward. Komarek is an industry leading manufacturing company that builds briquetting machines and compaction/granulation systems with throughput capacities up to 50 tons per hour.
The company has begun successful testing on a Komarek-made machine at a throughput processing rate of 2.5 tons per day. The company has designed a pilot plant around that machine and is in the process of completing the buildout of the plant. The company anticipates having the pilot plant completed in Q1, 2023 and anticipates to continue testing it and optimizing parameters and sugar production in the first half of 2023. This pilot plant is designed to show successful volume production and scalability.
The company expects to engage an engineering firm to design a semi-commercial scale pilot plant that integrates a larger CTS system into the pre-processing and post-processing elements of the plant. It is anticipated that the semi-commercial plant will have the capacity to produce sugar at a rate sufficient to make around 500,000 - 1,000,000 gallons of ethanol per year. Due to its mechanical nature and modularity, the company anticipates that one plant would have multiple modular CTS systems, and that the semi-commercial plant would contain one such module. The company expects to have the semi-commercial system ready in 2024.
Commencing commercial production will require project financing. The project financing will either be for bolting on the company's CTS system into an existing ethanol facility of a future potential joint venture partner, or for acquiring an ethanol facility and converting that to cellulosic ethanol production using the company's CTS system, or for setting up a production facility for converting ethanol into jet fuel using the Vertimass Process that the company has licensed.
The company has licensed the Vertimass Process to convert ethanol (from the CTS process) into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). There is no up-front or annual fee until the company is converting ethanol into SAF. The license agreement with Vertimass is the subject of a confidentiality agreement between the parties. The company intends to start engineering of a first pilot plant to convert up to 500,000 gallons of ethanol into jet fuel and other fuels.
The company's strategy is to diversify its product portfolio to include a number of product lines. These potentially include biofuels - such as ethanol, or converting ethanol into higher biofuels like sustainable aviation fuel and the like; selling sulfur-free lignin to ion exchange resin producers; and making specialty chemicals from lignin. These, and other markets, could potentially provide for highly profitable products.
The company intends to grow with additional plants in the United States and explore international growth by either licensing the technology or forming joint ventures with foreign domestic partners to build plants.
Any new biofuels plant that is built would require various government permits. In particular, renewable fuels are subject to rigorous testing and premarket approval requirements by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation and Air Quality and regulatory authorities in other countries. In the U.S., various federal, and, in some cases, state statutes and regulations also govern or impact the manufacturing, safety, storage and use of renewable fuels. The process of seeking required approvals and the continuing need for compliance with applicable statutes and regulations requires the expenditure of resources. The company anticipates raising the necessary capital for this as a part of its project-based financing.
Research and Development
For the year ended December 31, 2022, the company's research and development expenses were $2,350,218.
History
The company was founded in 2012. It was incorporated in Nevada in 2012. The company was formerly known as Alliance Media Group Holdings, Inc. and changed its name to Alliance Bioenergy Plus, Inc. in 2014 and changed its name to Blue Biofuels, Inc. in August 2021.
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