A New Jersey-based company is developing renewable drop-in gasoline from biomass.

Primus Green Energy reports that the first sample of renewable drop-in gasoline has been produced through the company’s proprietary combination of biomass conversion technologies. The technique “transforms herbaceous and woody biomass, in conjunction with natural gas, into high-octane gasoline.”

According to Primus, the gasoline produced from the technology is virtually indistinguishable from gasoline produced from fossil fuel and can be used directly in engines as a component of standard fuel formulas without engine modifications.

The gasoline produced is a high quality product, with a higher-octane level (93) and a lower level of benzene than gasoline produced from petroleum. Primus Green Energy has produced fuel samples from a test plant, recently broke ground on an automated demonstration plant and is planning to break ground next year on a commercial plant in eastern Pennsylvania that will be designed to produce 4.8 million gallons per year of gasoline from wood pellets and non-food, herbaceous crops.

IC Green Energy, the green arm of Israel Corp., has invested $40m in Primus since 2008.