WS-CRDS for Biofuel Analysis
Biofuels are being increasingly used as renewable alternatives to fossil fuels. These include diesel from plant products and ethanol from grain. In some countries, biodiesel is now blended with conventional diesel. The fuel companies need to verify the blend ratio in order to qualify for carbon tax credits. Biofuel has a quite different value for the δ13C carbon isotope ratio than do fossil fuels. Burning a small mount of the blended fuel will yield CO2 whose δ13C value will confirm the exact blend origins. Picarro WS-CRDS isotope analyzers are among the only portable calibrated instruments that can make this same measurement in the field or in the reference lab. . Moreover, these analyzers are an order of magnitude smaller and less costly than the alternative of IRMS, which also requires a skilled technician operator and specific sample prep. In another biofuel example, genetically modified bacteria are now being used to produce engineered hydrocarbon fuel molecules. This fermentation process involves fixing CO2 from the headspace air. Picarro WS-CRDS CO2 and isotope CO2 analyzers are ideal to monitor the process by following CO2 consumption and/or by monitoring respiration by tracking CO2 produced from isotopically labeled feedstock.