Aug 12 2015
VIASPACE Inc. announced that PCS Biofuels Inc. of Vancouver, Canada has converted Giant King Grass into a high-energy, carbon neutral, drop-in replacement for coal using its patented Polymer Carbon Solid (PCS) thermal catalytic process.
The resulting PCS Giant King Grass biofuel has the same energy density as metallurgical coal, and is environmentally friendly as it burns cleanly without generating sulfur, mercury or other emissions found in coal. PCS solid biofuel is hydrophobic and can be stored outdoors like coal and pulverized in the same machines as coal.
The PCS solid biofuel process is a hydrothermal process that uses hot water under pressure as the solvent, and a patented catalyst.
The report from PCS Biofuel concludes, "The preliminary results indicate that Giant King Grass is an excellent feedstock for the production of PCS Biofuel. The energy density of the biomass is increased significantly to the range typical of a good thermal coal (~24MJ/Kg). The ash content is similar to that of a good coal. Since the ash has a high melting point, above 950oC we expect no problems when the PCS biofuel from GKG is burnt alongside of coal. The residual ash from combustion would be an excellent addition to the cement making process as a pozzolan agent."
PCS biofuel products are being developed and commercialized by ecoPOLYMER Partners, an industrial partnership formed by ecoTECH Energy Group Inc., PCS Biofuels Inc. and Terra Commodity Traders Inc.
Mr. Colin Hall, CEO of ecoTECH Energy Group, stated, "We are interested in working with VIASPACE for development of market opportunities of Giant King Grass cultivation and the PCS technology to make densified hydrophobic thermal energy fuel briquettes available as green biomass fuel transportable for operation in all climates. We would like to expand our closed loop biomass power and heat generation projects initiatives by incorporating VIASPACE Giant King Grass as the biomass fuel of choice where climate permits to explore both bulk fuel supply opportunities and warm climate plantation creation or replanting conversion for GKG."
VIASPACE Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Carl Kukkonen, stated, "VIASPACE will be pleased to explore business opportunities for Giant King Grass as a feedstock for ecoPOLYMER. This new data confirms that Giant King Grass is truly a multi-application biomass. It can be used as a high nutrition animal feed, for anaerobic digestion to produce biogas, direct combustion in power plants, energy pellets, and data indicates that it is suitable for biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol and butanol. This new data from PCS Biofuels shows the potential of Giant King Grass as a feedstock to produce a clean, carbon neutral, drop-in replacement for coal."
VIASPACE Chairman, Dr. Kevin Schewe, concluded, "We have recently embarked on a renewed initiative regarding the highly-productive biomass/bioenergy platform capabilities of Giant King Grass for carbon-neutral biofuels. While Giant King Grass requires a year-round warm climate for optimum growth characteristics, Polymer Carbon Solid (PCS) Giant King Grass biofuel is a green energy, coal-like commodity that is very stable and can be exported and used anywhere there is a market for reducing CO2 emissions. We are very excited that GKG has been shown to be an excellent feedstock for the production of PCS Biofuel and to be working with Mr. Colin Hall and his team."
Source: http://www.viaspace.com/