Comstock files for patent covering pathways to produce biobased diesel fuel from woody biomass

Comstock Inc. announced July 18 an expansion of its cellulosic technology portfolio by filing for a new patent covering pathways to produce renewable diesel, marine, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and gasoline from woody biomass “at dramatically improved yield, efficiency, and cost in comparison to all known methods,” the company stated.

“Our new patent covers processes and compositions that have been validated at our existing 2-ton-per-day cellulosic fuels pilot facility, verifying that our process can simultaneously produce multiple purified biointermediates that are uniquely isolated and free of the contaminants that have frustrated prior attempts at commercializing cellulosic fuel technologies,” said Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock’s CEO and executive chairman.

Based on current performance data, Comstock projects renewable fuel yields exceeding 80 gallons per dry ton (on a gasoline-gallon equivalent basis), with lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions reductions exceeding 80 percent over petroleum.

“Our performance is better than the best current processes can deliver,” added David Winsness, president of Comstock’s renewable fuels business. “We achieve those results by enabling dramatically higher yields from a far more abundant feedstock, resulting in purified biointermediates that are highly amenable to producing renewable fuels using existing infrastructure.”

Comstock says its technology unlocks vast quantities of historically unused and underutilized feedstocks.

“The DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has published estimates that the U.S. produces up to 100 million tons per year of sawmill and forestry residuals alone,” Comstock stated. “That biomass is sufficient to produce 8 billion gallons per year of drop-in fuels by utilizing Comstock’s technology.”

De Gasperis said, “The existing U.S. refining capacity is far greater than current feedstocks can support. We believe that our expanded technology solutions, and the magnitude of feedstocks that they enable, unblock one of the most critical supply-chain constraints for providing a massive renewable fuel solution across the U.S. and global mobility markets.”

Comstock intends to build, own and operate a fleet of advanced carbon-neutral extraction and refining facilities by selling an array of complementary process solutions and related services, and by licensing selected technologies to qualified strategic partners.