Genifuel Corporation was formed in 2006 to produce renewable energy by the most efficient, lowest cost, and most scalable means possible. We performed extensive evaluations of a wide range of technologies against these criteria. In the end we concluded that hydrothermal processing of wet material--which might otherwise be wasted or cause environmental problems--offered great promise. Applying hydrothermal processing to these materials solves two problems at once--eliminating wastes in an exceptionally clean way, while producing renewable fuels.  In fact, this capability led to one of our trademarks for the equipment and engineering services we offer:  "Solving Two Problems At Once". 

Genifuel's renewable bio-crude oil and natural gas can be processed with existing infrastructure and the fuels are immediately usable.  In fact, our natural gas can be used to process electricity on-site.  With our process, feedstock can be collected as required, or stored temporarily, to generate electricity on demand.  The bio-crude is similar to fossil crude and can be processed into transportation fuels in existing refineries.

We have successfully produced renewable fuels from many wet wastes. These processes have been completed at several scales, from laboratory through pilot production.  We are now scaling up to larger systems running 24/7, with the first plant going into operation in the summer of 2015.

Genifuel Corporation produces equipment to make renewable fuels from wet organic material by a highly efficient process known as Hydrothermal Processing (HTP).    

The fuel our equipment produces is clean, safe, and economical.  The use of biologically-produced fuel causes no net increase in greenhouse gases.  We believe it is also the cheapest biofuel which can be made today.

The Genifuel process starts with wet organic material, either photosynthetic biomass such as algae and other water plants, or other wet material such as food processing wastes, animal wastes, and human-generated wastes.  The process also works extremely well with wet wastes from other biofuel processes such as cellulosic ethanol production. 

Regardless of feedstock, the organic material is collected and then processed in the hydrothermal system, which achieves very fast conversion of more than 99% of the organic content of the wet biomass.  The system was developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, (PNNL), part of the US Department of Energy.  Our technology is based on patents (pending) which we have developed, as well as on an exclusive worldwide license to patents developed by PNNL.

The output of the system is biocrude oil or natural gas, or both, depending on how the system is configured.  Essentially the hydrothermal process accomplishes in less than an hour what would take millions of years in nature.  The biocrude oil and methane gas are nearly identical to the natural fossil equivalents, except that they add no net new carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Overview of Genifuel Corporation and Hydrothermal Processing

Hydrothermal Processing Scale-Up and System Photos

Future of Wastewater Treatment with Hydrothermal Processing

Advantages of Genifuel Hydrothermal Processing

Genifuel's Hydrothermal Processing Systems produce biocrude oil and renewable natural gas (methane).  The systems can operate in the mode of Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL), Catalytic Hydrothermal Gasification (CHG), or both together.  When running in combined HTL and CHG mode, a Genifuel system can convert more than 85% of the feedstock carbon to renewable fuels. 

Application of Biocrude Oil and Natural Gas

The biocrude oil produced by the Genifuel Process is very similar to fossil crude oil, and can be used in the same way.  Specifically, Genifuel biocrude can be refined in existing refineries to yield gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel fuel.  In addition, it can be burned directly in a marine engine or other engine equipped to burn heavy oil, and in this application is similar to Bunker C or Fuel Oil #6. 

The gas we produce is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide in approximately a 65/35 ratio.  This mixture can be burned directly in engines to produce electricity, and most major genset suppliers support this fuel mix.  In addition, the carbon dioxide can be removed to give pure, clean methane of pipeline quality.  This gas has no sulfur, nitrogen, silanes, or other contaminants.  It can be compressed to CNG or LNG and in this form provides an exceptionally clean and inexpensive motor fuel. 

Effluents

The Genifuel Process is exceptionally clean.

• The fuels we produce release no net new carbon dioxide, since the feedstock is derived from renewable biomass and wet wastes. 

• We recover all the plant nutrients in the feedstock, including the primary nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (NPK).  We also recover micro-nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, iron, coppor, boron, etc.  These nutrients can be used as renewable fertilizer.

• The effluent water from our process is clear, clean, and sterile.  In most cases it can be discharged directly into the environment under existing regulations.