CleanTech Biofuels Inc. is an early-stage company offering cities and landfill operators its technology to convert municipal solid waste into sustainable biomass for renewable energy production. Earlier this year, the company announced that a test vessel had demonstrated the operational capability of its technology.
CleanTech Biofuels yesterday announced a joint research agreement with GeoSynFuels LLC. The research will measure ethanol yields from CleanTech’s biomass using GeoSynFuels’ proprietary enzymatic hydrolysis process. Under the agreement, CleanTech will initially provide about 10 kilograms of biomass for use in GeoSynFuels’ biofuel process.
CleanTech CEO, Ed Hennessey, stated, “Ethanol yields from our biomass in previous tests have been very positive and we are continuing to measure our renewable fuel output using various conversion technologies. Together CleanTech and GeoSynFuels believe that we can turn garbage into renewable energy and capture recyclables at the same time.”
According to GeoSynFuels’ CEO, Dr. J. Todd Harvey, demand for high-quality biomass is increasing rapidly, raising questions about future sources for biofuel feedstock. Dr. Harvey went on say that landfill waste is an ideal non-food biomass source; thus the research joint venture.
A primary future demand driver for both companies is the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 passed by Congress. This act requires the amount of biofuels added to US gasoline to increase from 4.7 billion gallons in 2007 to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Biomass is also projected by the US Department of Energy to account for about one-half of the projected growth in renewable electricity sources by 2030.
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