University researchers develop first stable bio-oil for transportation use

NewsLeader.com
Staff Report • June 8, 2010

BLACKSBURG — Researchers at Virginia Tech are using science to control unstable components in biomass to develop stable oils that can be readily upgraded to transportation fuels for the first time. Biomass comprises recently living organisms such as wood or waste products.

Converting woody feedstocks – in this case, poplar and pine wood – to liquid fuels usually produces bio-oil that is unstable and acidic, and which cannot be converted to transportation fuel using traditional processing technologies.

According to Foster Agblevor, associate professor of biological systems engineering in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, these bio-oils present further problems. The oils become thicker during storage, resulting in a substance that turns to char when heated. These bio-oils are unusable for fuel after only a few months in storage.

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