NAUTILUS EDUCATION | BETA PRODUCT avuncular and black-haired. His interests are broad: River each summer as a result of fertilizer washing off He spends his spare time writing and reading history, the endless cornfields of the Midwest. But ethanol is and has authored books on conflict in the Middle East unlikely to ever fully replace conventional fossil fuels, and the role of Christian missionaries in China. since it is more difficult to transport, produces a frac- A lifetime in fuels chemistry left Fang with one _ tion of the energy of oil, and would require engines to burning question: “What is the real solution to the be refitted or replaced on a massive scale. energy crisis?” His career at oil companies BP and Hence the interest in “drop-in” biofuels as a sub- ExxonMobil, and engine manufacturer Cummins, stitute for conventional fuels in existing cars, planes, spanned not just one but two major energy upheav- and trucks. The problem is not one of infrastructure, als—the oil crisis of the 1970s and then its sequel in but chemistry: Companies must find a way to eco- the first decade of the 21st century, which is arguably nomically imitate and fast-track a process for which still ongoing. These experiences impressed on Fang time and geology have done most of the work in con- the importance of securing the fuel supply in such ventional fossil fuels. The energy in these fuels is the a way as to avoid despoiling the environment. The pent-up power of ancient sunlight, which billions of solution, says the bespectacled chemist, is “nature- photosynthetic microorganisms soaked up before sourced biomass or natural gas converted effectively dying, fossilizing, and turning into the hydrocarbon- to gas or diesel.” rich stew we know as petroleum, and from which we Primus’s original idea was simple: take scrap wood refine gas, diesel, and jet fuel, among other products. or other biomass, turn it into pellets, and apply pres- In theory, then, it should be possible to turn the