Patent ID: 8313540

Claim:
A method of producing bio-mass derived high-octane fuel, comprising the steps of: (a) fermenting a biomass with a microorganism or a mutagen thereof to produce a mixture of metabolites comprising acetone and butanol; (b) separating the acetone from butanol and any ethanol or other solvents in the mixture by fractional distillation; (c) dimerizing a portion of resultant acetone from step (b) to form isopentane; (d) trimerizing another portion of the acetone from step (b) using a catalyst containing at least one metal selected from the group consisting of niobium, iron, and manganese to form mesitylene, and (e) mixing the mesitylene with the isopentane from steps (c) and (d), whereby to form the biomass-derived high-octane fuel.