CoolPlanet Energy Systems claims that they have been able to produce 4,000 gallons of gasoline per acre in their pilot plant using giant Miscanthus, a perennial grass developed at the University of Mississippi. Giant Miscanthus can be widely grown locally in the Midwest, and Missouri and Illinois have already ventured out in growing this energy crop. Once planted, Miscanthus returns each year without being replanted. The crop does not need fertilizer and it grows in poor soil that is unfit for food crops.
CoolPlanet is developing a revolutionary process that can produce high grade fuels from biomass. The process produces an exact replacement for gasoline that can operate in your current cars. Their proprietary biomass fractionator technology extracts useful hydrocarbons from biomass, leaving behind the excess carbon as a high purity solid. By burying this carbon in an appropriate manner, they can make deficient farmland fertile while sequestering carbon for hundreds of years. The result is a negative carbon content fuel. Their investors include BP, General Electric, Google Ventures, ConocoPhillips, NRG and North Bridge Venture Partners
