Researchers have developed a new biofuel derived from wood chips that can be blended with biodiesel and petroleum diesel to power conventional engines, according to research detailed in the online edition of journal Energy and Fuels.

"The exciting thing about our method is that it is very easy to do," said Tom Adams, a researcher from the University of Georgia.

"We expect to reduce the price of producing fuels from biomass dramatically with this technique," he said.

Scientists have long been able to derive oil from wood, but they had been unable to process it effectively or inexpensively for the conventional engines.

Researchers from the University of Georgia have developed a new chemical process, which they are working to patent, that inexpensively treats the oil so that it can be used in unmodified diesel engines or blended with biodiesel and petroleum diesel.

Wood chips and pellets, roughly a quarter inch in diameter and six-tenths of an inch long, are heated in the absence of oxygen at high temperature, a process known as pyrolysis. Up to a third of the dry weight of the wood becomes charcoal, while the rest becomes gas. Most of this kind of gas is condensed into a liquid bio-oil and chemically treated. When the process is complete, about 34 percent of the bio-oil (or 15 to 17 percent of the dry weight of the wood) can be used to power engines.

The researchers are currently working to derive even more oil from the wood.

Adams said that the new biofuel offers environmental benefits because it is nearly carbon neutral, meaning that it does not significantly increase heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as long as new trees are planted to replace the ones used to create the fuel.

Although the new biofuel has performed well, further tests are needed to assess its long-term impact on engines, its emissions characteristics and the best way to transport and store it, said Adams.

"It's going to take a while before this fuel is widely available," Adams said.