Renewable Fuels from Solar Thermal Gasification of Biomass

Copernican Energy, Inc. produces fuels and chemicals from renewable feedstocks through the application of solar-thermal energy. Such processes use the solar energy to drive endothermic chemical reactions, essentially storing solar energy in chemical bonds. Applying its highly efficient proprietary reactor technology, it takes advantage of rapid chemical kinetics and favorable thermodynamics to create integrated thermochemical biomass conversion processes. The temperature regimes uniquely available to solar thermal processing allow for complete conversion of biomass to synthesis gas ("syngas"), from which a wide range of fuels or chemicals could be produced (e.g. hydrogen, methanol, ethanol, gasoline, diesel fuel). This flexibility allows the company to quickly and efficiently meet changing market demand as the world transitions from current to future fuel technology.

Copernican Energy, Inc. was founded in November, 2006 by Dr. Chris Perkins, Mr. P. Michael Masterson, Mr. Robert Morgan, and Prof. Alan Weimer with the mission of providing renewable fuels and chemicals to the world market through the application of solar thermal energy. The underlying intellectual property and novel technical expertise that forms the foundation for the company were developed in the Weimer Laboratory at the University of Colorado at Boulder over the past eight years; the team includes the world leaders in designing and implementing chemical reactors within a solar thermal framework.

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