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RTP's Maverick Synfuels: DME fuel could hit market in 3-5 years
Oct 27, 2014, 4:19pm EDT

Dawn Wallace
Staff Writer-
Triangle Business Journal

Maverick Synfuels, a Research Triangle Park-based alternative fuel company, is moving toward the future of fuels with a new concept in fuel production.
The company recently created a small-scale production plant called the Maverick Oasis. It converts methane to methanol and can further synthesized into dimethyl ether, or DME. The process can be fed by anaerobic digesters, such as those that process animal, food or other organic waste, as well as the methane from landfills.
The production facility is portable and can be located at a fuel source, including farms or household waste sites.
"The idea is that, when the plant is on a landfill and the methane from it eventually dries up, we can pick [the plant] up and move it to another source," says CEO Sam Yenne. "DME is handled much like propane, you keep it under pressure to keep it liquid. It's very easy to transfer. Our plant runs 24/7 and can produce about 3 million gallons a year."

The Maverick Oasis is 5,000 square feet and is modular for easy shipping, though it needs to be assembled by a team of Maverick's engineers. The manufacturing plant can produce between 3,000 and 10,000 gallons of methanol per day.
None of these plants are up and running in North Carolina, yet, but a few are slated for the upper Midwest, says Yenne.
"There's a large dairy industry up there, and they have a bigger problem with methane than we do," he explains. "Our strategy is to have 42 of these plants in production within five years."
A trucking company powering its fleet using DME would pay relatively the same as purchasing diesel, but DME burns cleaner and could keep the cost of truck maintenance much lower. Just how much lower is not something Yenne says he can determine, since the fuel hasn't hit the market and there's no data to show how it will impact maintenance in price.


http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2014/10/27/maverick-synfuels-rtp-nc-dme-fuel-could-hit-market.html