|
|
Suddenly desperate to end dependency on Russian oil and gas, Europe is looking for alternatives.
Europe, meet Virent, a Wisconsin-based subsidiary of Marathon Oil, the ninth-largest U.S. oil company.
Virent has developed a process that uses plant waste—corn cobs, trash left over from processing sugarcane, and a variety of other organic matter—to make “drop-in” replacements for hydrocarbon fuels.
The proprietary process involves catalysts, chemicals that set off reactions among other materials but that remain unchanged themselves in the process.
The organic material first is turned into a wet slurry, then Virent’s special catalysts turn the organic carbohydrates into hydrocarbons that, the company says, are chemically identical to diesel, gasoline, jet fuel, or chemicals for industrial feedstocks, depending on the catalysts selected.
To prove the point, last October a twin-engine United Airlines passenger flight from Chicago to Washington, DC, burned conventional jet fuel in one engine and Virent’s replacement in the other.
The airline reported no difference in the flight’s performance from a flight using entirely conventional jet fuel.
Also, the plane’s engine didn’t have to be modified to work as normal using Virent’s substitute.
Because it’s plant-based, the new fuel also creates less carbon pollution over its life cycle. Virent says no drilling is needed and the catalytic process uses less energy than refining crude oil.
TRENDPOST: Countries that happen to sit atop oil reserves—Russia, Saudi Arabia and the OPEC nations—have long held the world’s economy hostage to their own interests. Russia has built its military machine largely on the world’s unquenchable thirst for its oil.
Processes such as Virent’s could end the dictatorship of oil. While it does too little to reduce pollution from burning carbon fuels, Virent’s technology and others like it can lead the world a step closer to peace and to self-sufficient economies, one of our Top 2022 Trends.