Grant: Engage Grants Program

Cellufuel Inc. has developed a proprietary process to produce diesel fuel from waste wood biomass. While theproduct is derived from biomass sources, the fuel is not biodiesel, which by definition is an organic fatty acidester. Given that the product of Cellufuel Inc. is a synthetic diesel product and not biodiesel, it is not subject tothe problems associated with biodiesel such as corrosion, oil polymerization, and high viscosity. The quality ofdiesel fuel is assessed by several quality metrics, particularly those prescribed by ASTM D975 for road goingdiesel. Three of these metrics are the flashpoint, sulphur content, and acid number. The diesel fuel producedby Cellufuel Inc. meets the quality standards of ASTM D975 except for these three areas. The proposedresearch project will develop methods to improve the diesel product to bring these three metrics into therequired range. Flashpoint will be raised by development of new methods to remove volatile components fromthe product stream. Sulphur content will be lowered by investigating new carrier fluids to preventcontamination of the diesel fuel product. Acid number will be improved by developing new methods toremove organic acid impurities derived from the wood feedstock. These improvements will allow CellufuelInc. to bring their new biomass derived diesel to market as a high-quality alternative to petroleum deriveddiesel.