Patented liquid and solid green fuels

A coordinated family of green-energy products from a single platform.

From a single PIPE™ platform, Permanente's technology produces a coordinated family of green-energy and carbon-negative products branded under the GRC88® name. Each product is engineered to substitute directly into existing industrial infrastructure — power plants, blast furnaces, marine engines, soil programs — without requiring special-purpose machinery, equipment, or capital-intensive conversions.

GRC88® Marine Fuel ↓ Download the GRC88® brief (PDF)

Protected portfolio

An issued international patent portfolio.

GRC88® products and processes are covered by U.S. Patent No. 9,758,738 B2, Green Renewable Liquid Fuel, together with additional U.S. patents, Canadian Patent No. 3,109,645 (with a divisional application pending), and European Patent EP3841184.

Carbon-neutral combustion, carbon-negative manufacture
No sulfur, no heavy metals, no toxics
Industrial-scale outputs, millions of tons per year

Made from biomass feedstock; co-processed minerals and contaminants are separated out.

01 / Solid products

Hydrophobic, no heavy metals, low-moisture, low-ash. Biocoal and biocoke burn cleanly.

No mercury, no lead, no other heavy metals, and no sulfur. Substitutes seamlessly into existing coal-fired boilers, dual-fuel two-cycle, low-RPM industrial diesel engines, and steam-heating boilers — requiring no special machinery or equipment.

Product 01 · Solid fuel

GRC88® Biocoal

A clean, drop-in solid fuel that blends or burns seamlessly with coal. GRC88® biocoal is hydrophobic, low-moisture, and low-ash, with a heating value of approximately 12,500 BTU/lb — delivering roughly 33% to 62% greater energy density than Powder River Basin (PRB) coal across its published range, yet containing no sulfur, no heavy metals, and no toxics.

With its greater heat value, biocoal competes dollar-for-dollar with coal on an energy basis, requires no special-purpose machinery or equipment, and provides a sustainable, carbon-neutral energy solution for existing power and industrial boilers.

Product 02 · Metallurgical solid

GRC88® Biocoke

Produced through a newly patented process (U.S. Patent 12,595,340 B1) that first highly densifies woody biomass and then carbonizes it, GRC88® biocoke yields a strong, high-fixed-carbon, low-ash shaped fuel that is a green alternative to fossil metallurgical coal.

It substitutes directly for, or blends with, metallurgical coal in blast furnaces for pig-iron smelting and supports electric-arc-furnace (EAF) production of green steel. Fixed-carbon content of approximately 85%.

Product 03 · Carbon sink

GRC88® Biochar

Refined from a soil-amendment tradition more than a thousand years old, GRC88® biochar is a rich, low-cost amendment that enhances nutrient and moisture retention, rebuilds depleted soils, and increases crop yields by as much as 20%.

Each ton applied to the soil sequesters approximately 2.8 tons of CO₂ — effectively forever. Fresh from the PIPE™ reactor, pristine biochar additionally provides modest direct-air-capture sorption of CO₂ — approximately 6% of its mass under typical conditions — contributing further to its negative-emissions profile prior to soil application.

02 / Energy density comparison

GRC88® biocoal vs. fossil alternatives — measured in BTU per pound.

GRC88® biocoal at approximately 12,500 BTU/lb delivers roughly 33% greater energy density than PRB coal at its high end and approximately 62% greater at its low end — and roughly 60% greater than conventional wood pellets.

Fig. 04 · Energy density comparison, BTU/lb Source: Wyo. Geol. Survey + int. testing

GRC88® biocoal at approximately 12,500 BTU/lb delivers a material energy-density premium over every legacy solid-fuel benchmark. PRB subbituminous coal ranges from 7,710 to 9,410 BTU/lb (Wyoming State Geological Survey); conventional export-grade wood pellets sit near 7,800 BTU/lb. GRC88® biocoal is hydrophobic, low-moisture, low-ash, with no sulfur, no heavy metals, and no toxics.

03 / GRC88® Marine Fuel

A drop-in fuel for a 330-million-ton market.

A carbon-neutral, drop-in viscous colloidal suspension of bio-oil (pyrolysis oil) and nano-particle-sized energy-rich biocarbon — engineered for the global bunker market at its existing scale, without requiring newbuild vessels.

Product 04 · Liquid intermediate

GRC88® Bio-oil

Slow-pyrolysis catalyzed vapors from the PIPE™ reactor are condensed into bio-oil (pyrolysis oil) suitable for further refinement into higher-grade liquid green fuels and chemical feedstocks. Bio-oil is the primary ingredient of GRC88® marine fuel and a feedstock for other advanced green-fuel refining pathways.

Fig. 05 · Global marine fuel market & GRC88® positioning Source: MARAD / IMO DCS / Ship & Bunker

Global marine petroleum-hydrocarbon fuel consumption is approximately 330 million metric tons per year and increasing, burned by approximately 100,000 commercial vessels worldwide. The proposed alternatives — methanol, ammonia, and LNG — typically require newbuild vessels. Vegetable-oil biofuels amount to less than 0.3% of sector use. GRC88® is the drop-in alternative at approximately 30% less cost on a BTU-for-BTU basis, without subsidy of any kind.

Why it matters

GRC88® liquid green-energy fuel from cellulosic biomass can be made and distributed at approximately 30% less than the cost of conventional marine fuels — without subsidy of any kind — and it contains no sulfur, so it clears the IMO 2020 sulfur cap with room to spare, and its carbon-neutral profile is designed to qualify under the EU’s FuelEU Maritime greenhouse-gas rules. Its combustion is carbon-neutral; its manufacture is carbon-negative.

GRC88® is a drop-in, not a newbuild — which means it can decarbonize the global bunker market at its existing scale, immediately, at lower cost than the fuel it displaces.

04 / Engineering basis

A viscous, energy-dense colloidal suspension — not emulsified fast-pyrolysis liquid.

Technical basis of the energy density of GRC88® marine fuel

Permanente's patented liquid green fuel is produced by slow pyrolysis for use in marine transportation, power and thermal production, and gasification for higher-grade fuel refining. It is not the emulsified, low-energy, fast-pyrolysis unstable liquid produced by other technologies. GRC88® is the opposite: a drop-in, carbon-neutral marine fuel engineered as a viscous, energy-dense colloidal suspension of bio-oil (pyrolysis oil) and nano-sized particles of torrefied biocarbon — a combination protected under U.S. Patent No. 9,758,738 B2 and Permanente’s broader patent portfolio.

This formulation is the technical basis of the energy density of GRC88® marine fuel, which meets or exceeds that of No. 6 Residual Fuel Oil and Bunker C. It contains no heavy metals, burns cleanly, and is equally suitable for many land-based energy-generating operations.

05 / Beyond GRC88®

The same platform, more product lines.

GRC88® is Permanente’s green-energy family. The PIPE™ platform also enables mineral recovery from red mud, and produces upgraded fossil resources, engineered wood, and animal feed.

Red mud co-processing