NAUTIL.US | TEXT SETS “We can be as dark as Boyayian. chemical reactors. One turns the syngas into methanol. more than happy to reveal all those dark arts—a pros- The next makes methanol into a molecule known as __ pect that makes the affable Boyajian nervous and tight- dimethyl ether, or DME in chemist-speak. In the third lipped. For now, the fledgling company buys the neces- reactor, catalysts known as zeolites knit DME into gas- sary catalysts off the shelf and must sign agreements oline, in the most expensive and energy-intensive part not to examine these zeolites too closely. of the process. The fourth reactor eliminates some of Using different catalysts m the reactors, Fang notes, the unwanted byproducts that cause the resulting fuel the company could spit out diesel or jet fuel instead to congeal at low temperatures. of gasoline. And for every 100 kilograms of syngas, The key is the zeolites, porous minerals made up of he says, Primus can make 30 kilograms of gasoline or aluminum, silicon, and oxygen that allow the desired more, using a continuous looping system within the chemical reactions to take place. Both Primus anda —_— machine that eliminates the need for wasting energy conventional oil refinery employ zeolites to manipu- to convert gases to liquids along the way. Little red late hydrocarbons. At an oil refinery, these catalysts | containers of Fang-made gasoline record its charac- help crack and sort hydrocarbons broken down from __ teristics, scrawled on masking tape affixed to the sides: crude oil. At Primus, heat and pressure allow zeolites low vapor pressure, a higher-than-average octane con- to build gasoline hydrocarbons from the smaller mol- tent of around 93, and a favorable absence of sulfur ecules of syngas. Such “catalysts are a bit ofa dark art,” or benzene. Oil prices have been rising over the last says Boyajian. He spars with Fang over whether ornot month, and are currently at more than $100 per barrel; the company will one day make t