Vertimass awarded up to $1.4 billion to optimise renewable jet fuel. (2019). Retrieved 18 November 2019, from https://biofuels-news.com/news/vertimass-awarded-up-to-1-4- billion-to-optimise- renewable-jet-fuel/
A California-based company called Vertimass was chosen by the Bioenergy Technology Office (BTO) to receive up to $1.4 billion to optimize its jet fuel. The company uses ethanol, but differently than most ethanol being used currently. Most ethanol is only mixed in at about 10 percent with diesel fuel, but Vertimass can introduce a much higher concentration of ethanol with their new catalyst. It also has the potential to overcome the barriers set by other ethanols in that their energy output is not high enough.
This is definitely exciting in two ways. First, a governmental organization in the BTO was willing to give $1.4 billion to a company, meaning that the US government is looking to the future in fuels and sees the error in our current ways, which I did not think they did before. Next, the new catalyst being used is exciting because it overcomes so many boundaries that we have while using ethanol. It means that we can use a higher density of organic compounds in our fuels, which is more sustainable, and possibly that it can produce much more energy than it currently does, so it would be more widely accepted by industry, which values efficiency over everything. This relates to environmental science because it involved government in the form of grants, business, and environmental issues that are being solved.
I think this is very interesting. If biofuel can become a major source of energy for the United States, we as a society could lean off of other forms of energy onto biofuel. Because this is backed by the government, this has a lot of potential to make a major impact.
I found this entire article to be quite informative and exciting, as I was completely unaware of this new innovation. In addition to the excitement that comes with the creation of more efficient ethanol, I also thought it was an interesting point that the government does not usually give specific companies money. Do you think this new ethanol will be a success?