Turning Wood Into Gasoline: A New Path for Existing Engines

What we talked about.

Sunny Ray talks with Luca Pandolfi, founder of Woodland Biomass Innovations, about a plan to make gasoline from low grade wood that can run in the cars people already drive. Pandolfi traces the idea to college research in 2012, when he learned about military units that turned waste into diesel and then studied what it would take to bring such technology to the mainstream. He explains why his company focuses on commercialization rather than owning intellectual property, and how that choice lets it swap in better technology later. The conversation covers the planned first facility in Tioga County, Pennsylvania, a project valued at $350 million, along with the team's expertise, strong local investment, and the search for mission oriented investors. Pandolfi also describes the final phase of engineering, a state grant, how AI has cut legal costs for a small startup, and a possible partnership with Penn State to create a pipeline from university research to commercial operations. He closes with where listeners can follow the company.

Luca Pandolfi explains how scrap wood could become gasoline for today's cars, cutting emissions without changing how we drive.

The questions, and the answers.

What problem pulled you into this work?

In college I learned the military had deployed units in Iraq that converted base waste into diesel. I wondered why I couldn't have one in my backyard. My professor suggested a techno economic analysis, so I spent a year comparing waste to fuel technologies, focusing on what it would take to make them mainstream rather than on inventing new science.

When did you come to believe IP is not essential to innovation?

I had to choose between the scientist route and the entrepreneurial route. I chose business and economics. IP matters, but it's only as valuable as your ability to commercialize it. Plenty of technology gets patented and never reaches users. We need both technology development and commercialization, and I think commercialization is the part that's lacking.

What protects a company like yours if it isn't patents?

Scale and expertise. A $350 million facility is hard to design and build, and few teams have done it. My co-founder Rich has large energy infrastructure experience, and our CFO has managed finances for big manufacturing and energy firms. We also have community trust, and 95 percent of our investment so far came from where we're building.

What do you say when an investor pushes back on not having IP?

I tell them we're a project development company, not a technology development company. Our plant combines four core technologies, and without our own IP we can swap any of them for something better in five years. We aren't tied to one approach. Our edge is expertise and being first in the Northeast, where the best woody biomass is.

Can you give us Woodland Bio in one minute?

Run your car on wood. You keep the car you drive today, switch the fuel source, and can cut carbon emissions by 80 to 90 percent. We use low grade wood, the leftovers and scrap that are a forest fire hazard, not the best trees. We collect that material and turn it into gasoline.

What do the next 90 days look like for the company?

We've finished two of three phases of our engineering process and are raising capital for the third and final phase. We have a $300,000 grant from the state of Pennsylvania and investors lined up. As an optimistic founder, I hope to close that financing and start phase three within 90 days, though fundraising is never certain.

What has raising money taught you about which investors fit?

We do best with mission oriented investors. They want good returns, and this project can deliver them, but they also care about impact. That might be an environmental fund cutting carbon emissions or a Pennsylvania first investor who wants jobs. We expect to create 50 to 100 jobs in rural Pennsylvania, with a model we can replicate.

Where does AI really help a startup like yours?

AI is a force multiplier. It lets five people do the work of ten. The biggest gain for us has been legal costs. We use AI to draft agreements with distributors and feedstock suppliers, then bring in a lawyer only for the final review. That has cut our legal bill to a fraction.