Range Fuels has invented a two-step thermo-chemical process to produce cellulosic ethanol. Even if these words are foreign to you, the positives are sure to resonate: the process is thermally self-sustaining, produces limited and manageable by-products, emits very low levels of greenhouse gases, uses less water per gallon of ethanol produced than conventional ethanol production processes, and produces high yields of clean ethanol.
A Design Driven by Efficiency
Our focus on efficiency goes beyond how we produce ethanol – it also extends to where we produce it. Our distributive design lets us bring systems to sources where biomass is most plentiful, instead of having to transport biomass to a central processing site. This reduces transportation costs and related transportation fuel consumption. Our modularity also allows the system to grow as more biomass becomes available. Simply adding another module – which is easy to ship and install – immediately doubles the output. We put our systems where they are needed, in just the size that is needed.
Nature’s Way
Our entire approach is based upon the invention of eco-friendly technology. The best evidence of this is that we produce more ethanol per energy input than conventional ethanol production processes. Nature likes this. Especially since we can convert a variety of materials, including waste material that serves no useful purpose. We call this conversion "waste to value," and this thrust is what motivates us to keep working our hardest.
Our Two-Step Thermo-Chemical Process
Step 1: Solids to Gas
Biomass (all plant and plant-derived material) that cannot be used for food, such as agricultural waste, is fed into a converter. Using heat, pressure, and steam the feedstock is converted into synthesis gas (syngas), which is cleaned before entering the second step.
Step 2: Gas to Liquids
The cleaned syngas is passed over our proprietary catalyst and transformed into mixed alcohols. These alcohols are then separated and processed to maximize the yield of ethanol of a quality suitable for use in blending with gasoline to fuel vehicles.
A Simple Process
Because Range Fuels’ process utilizes a thermo-chemical process, it relies on the chemical reactions and conversions between forms that naturally occur when certain materials are mixed under specific combinations of temperature and pressure. Other conversion processes use enzymes, yeasts, and other biological means to convert between forms.
Feedstock Flexibility
The Range Fuels process accommodates a wide range of organic feedstocks of various types, sizes, and moisture contents. This flexibility eliminates commercial problems related to fluctuations in feed material quality and ensures success in the real world, far from laboratory-controlled conditions.
Tested and True
Range Fuels’ technology has been tested and proven in bench and pilot-scale units for over eight years. Over 15,000 hours of testing has been completed on over 30 different non-food feedstocks with varying moisture contents and sizes, including wood waste, olive pits, and more. Range Fuels continues to optimize the conversion technology that will be used in our first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant near Soperton, Georgia using a 4th generation pilot plant in Denver, Colorado that we have been operating since the first quarter of 2008.
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