With biodiesel made from plant-based oils already commercially available to run modified diesel engines, the new process using levulinic acid as the feedstock will open up a broader market for renewable fuels.
Levulinic acid can be produced by chemical processing of materials including straw, corn stalks and municipal green waste.
Gasoline and traditional diesel fuel evaporate at different temperatures and pressures as diesel fuel is made up of long, straight chains of carbon atoms and gasoline’s molecules are shorter and branched.
UC Davis professor of chemistry Mark Mascal said, "What’s exciting is that there are lots of processes to make linear hydrocarbons, but until now nobody has been able to make branched hydrocarbons with volatility in the gasoline range."
UC Davis has filed provisional patents on the process, which does not depend on fermentation and as such the cellulose does not have to be converted to sugars first.
