Cobalt Technologies Produces Renewable Fuel from Beetle-Killed Pine
Energy Boom
Cobalt Technologies Produces Renewable Fuel from Beetle-Killed Pine
By Jace Shoemaker
Published: April 20, 2010
http://www.energyboom.com/biofuels/cobalt-technologies-produces-renewable-fuel-beetle-killed-pine
According to a recent press release, the California-based company is the first to produce a "drop-in replacement for petroleum and petrochemicals" from the affected lodgepole pine trees. The U.S.
Department of Energy defines biobutanol as an "alcohol that can be produced through processing of domestically grown crops," agricultural waste products and other biomass.
While the product is primarily used as an industrial solvent, biobutanol is also a "liquid alcohol fuel that can be used in today's gasoline-powered internal combustion engines."
Cobalt Technologies is collaborating with Colorado State University to evaluate the fuel's viability for use in commercial vehicles. According to the company website, biobutanol has numerous benefits as an alternative fuel:
- Has a calculated carbon footprint about one-third lower than gas.
- Can be developed as a stand-alone fuel.
- Can be easily blended with gasoline in today’s gas-powered vehicles.
- Can be locally grown using a variety of non-food and traditional feedstock as biomass sources.
- Can be transported using current gas pipelines and would not require new or modified storage tanks, blending facilities or station pumps.
Mountain Pine Beetles
Mountain pine beetles (MPB) are native to forests in western North America. The beetles, also known as the Rocky Mountain pine or Black Hills beetles, infect both healthy and weakened trees.
MPB outbreaks can result in the loss of millions of trees. In fact, MPB have infested nearly half of Colorado's five million acres of pine forest. Millions of acres of ponderosa and lodgepole pines in Canada and the Western United States have also been infested, leaving a trail of dead trees in the pests' path. Besides destroying the trees, the devastation creates potential fire hazards for neighboring communities.
While natural remedies including woodpeckers and clerid beetles are often used, once the beetle infests a tree, practically nothing can be done to save it. One interesting treatment in order to reduce the MPB population in infested trees in high-value areas includes the use of solar treatments.