Lignin biojet project wins DARPA funding

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Erin Voegele September 30, 2011

A researcher at Washington State University has been selected to receive a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Young Faculty Award to support the development of a technology to produce biobased jet fuel. Bin Yang, an assistant professor at WSU Tri-Cities’ Department of Biological Systems Engineering and the Center for Bioproducts & Bioenergy, has been awarded a two-year $300,000 grant to support his project, titled “Jet Fuel Production from Biomass-Derived Lignin in Remote Locations.”

According to Yang, the production technology he is developing will efficiently convert lignin into biobased jet fuel. Feedstock for the process could be accessed from several different sources, including the lignin byproduct that comes out of either cellulosic ethanol production or pulp and paper mills. "Co-production of ethanol and jet fuel from biomass sources would significantly improve the total carbon use in biomass and make biomass conversion more economically viable,” Yang said. In other words, the co-location of cellulosic biofuel production and lignin jet fuel production would create efficiencies that could drive down the cost of production.

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