User:Jwjenkin/Spero Energy

About
Spero Energy, Inc. is a startup company and a premier technology provider for the manufacture of high value chemicals (HVCs) from biomass. Spero Energy, Inc. has developed a patent pending one-step-catalytic process to selectively convert lignin from wood biomass and waste-wood to specialty renewable chemicals (methoxypropyl phenols) while simultaneously producing lignin free cellulose that is primed for the production of liquid fuels and commodity chemicals. The lignin derived chemicals have applications in flavorings, fragrances, high-octane aviation biofuel and high performance polymers. Spero, located in Purdue Research Park, is headed by Mahdi Abu-Omar, who is the R.B. Wetherill Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, as well as the associate director of Purdue's Center for Direct Catalytic Conversion of Biomass to Biofuels.

Awards
Boeing, United Airlines and UOP Honeywell pooled $50,000 for an aviation energy prize that was given to Spero Energy Inc., a group of students at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. They developed a cost-efficient process that converts wood sources into valuable chemicals that can be used in the flavor and fragrance industries immediately, but also has great potential to be used in the production of biofuel for aviation. According to Chemistry graduate student Ian Klein, "One of the three main components of biomass is lignin, which provides structure in a plant. It accounts for 20-30 percent of biomass, and it is known to inhibit the production of cellulosic ethanol. Our one-step, patent-pending process converts lignin into two products: dihydroeugenol, which is a flavor and fragrance chemical, and lignin-free material that is ready for ethanol production."