Sugar may now be OK to put in your gas
tank.

In a Gilson Discovery evening seminar
Thursday, president and CEO of Virent Energy Systems Eric Apfelbach
presented current developments in converting biomass, including
sugarcane, into hydrocarbon fuels, providing renewable energy as a
replacement for oil products.

Since its inception in 2002, Virent
Energy Systems has envisioned "a world in which renewable carbon
neutral energy drives global commerce and industry," Apfelbach
said, adding Virent hopes to use alternative fuels to successfully
compete with, and eventually replace, gasoline.

In having a viable business, Apfelbach
said, "we can have a material impact on a very, very critical
problem."

Virent has secured $21 million in
funding to produce low-temperature catalytic processes that convert
biomass into hydrocarbon fuels, chemicals or hydrogen, including
plans to use sugar as feedstock to create "green gasoline."

Calling corn ethanol a "legacy fuel"
with many issues, Apfelbach stressed Virent's biofuels as having "a
very low CO2 footprint [and] a very competitive cost," and calling
them "second-generation biofuels" which can truly provide a
solution to the energy problems the world faces today.

Second generation biofuels, Apfelbach
said, are important now because they compete directly with petroleum
in cost.

Virent's process converts sugar from
biomass in sugarcane directly into gasoline "which can basically be
put right into an engine," Apfelbach said. The "green gasoline"
— which expels little carbon dioxide into the atmosphere during
production — provides a cost-effective alternative to traditional
gasoline, especially as prices for crude oil continue to rise.

"In five or 10 years from now, you'll
probably see … a displacement of petroleum from plant and many
other renewable resources," Apfelbach said.

Apfelbach stressed the need for all
renewable resources in order to create economically viable processes
that can obtain the environmental results the world needs.

But the president of Energy Xperts,
David Redick, doubted Virent's developments would produce a viable
product. He felt external, steam-powered combustion engines were a
better alternative for the future, as "they are very tolerant of
anything you can burn" and therefore much cheaper than biofuels,
which require extensive processing.

Other attendees of the seminar,
however, strongly supported Virent's biofuel developments.
University of Wisconsin zoology professor James Pawly thought
Apfelbach's thoughts on conservation paralleled his own
environmental efforts.

Niels Wolter of Wisconsin Energy
Conservation Corporation said WECC provided the first outside grant
for Virent Energy Systems, adding "there are a lot of great ideas
out there … and I think we're going to see some amazing things
happen."

The Wisconsin Alumni Research
Foundation hosts the Gilson Discovery Seminars to "bring together
the university with the larger Madison community," WARF
Communications Director Janet Kelly said.

"Virent is one of those startup
companies that really seems to be well-positioned for success … and
it seemed like a logical choice" to share with the community, Kelly
added.