GTI is developing technologies which support next-generation compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles and engines, testing and development of new natural gas vehicle (NGV) components and systems, and development and deployment of NGV fueling stations. Research teams are working on several fronts to lower the costs of adoption of NGVs and NGV fueling infrastructure, particularly the first-cost entry into using NGVs.

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In 2011, GTI added a new IH² pilot-scale plant to our facilities to increase the supply of economical, renewable, and sustainable transportation fuels in the marketplace. IH2 is a novel thermal catalytic process that promises to be a very cost-effective route to produce liquid transportation fuels from renewable resources to help meet the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) obligation. The process converts non-food biomass feedstocks—such as wood, agricultural residues, algae, and aquatic plants— directly into gasoline, diesel and jet fuels. The ability to use a variety of feedstocks allows for regional production using local resources. GTI has licensed the IH² technology to CRI Catalyst Company for worldwide deployment.

GTI is conducting integrated systems evaluations of gasification of woody biomass, advanced syngas processing, and the TIGAS^® syngas-to-gasoline process for Haldor Topsøe and the DOE integrated biorefinery program. The project will convert wood to renewable gasoline by fully integrating and optimizing pilot-scale gasification, syngas cleanup, and syngas conversion process at GTI’s gasification campus. Other partners in this project include UPM-Kymmene, Carbona/Andritz and Phillips66.

Campaigns testing integrated syngas production and processing systems are being carried out at GTI’s gasification campus in support of biomass-to-liquids (BTL) process development. Testing has provided Andritz/Carbona (commercializer of GTI’s biomass gasification technology) and their client UPM-Kymmene, a global forestry company, with process data to support the design of a commercial biofuels plant in Europe. Environmental assessments for commercial projects have been completed for two sites, and a final funding decision on the commercial plant at a nominal 5000 BBL/day production capacity is expected by the end of 2012.

E.ON joined the project team as a cosponsor, which demonstrated most of the core technology necessary for their biomass to SNG interest, and later announced an agreement with Andritz/Carbona for a project based on the technology.

In 2009, Linde and Waste Management opened a 13,000 gallon per day landfill gas-to-LNG production facility at the Altamont Landfill, in Livermore, CA. The plant's liquefaction system is based on intellectual property developed by GTI. GTI’s technology creates LNG from landfill gas, wastewater bio-gas, digester gas, and stranded natural gas reserves. The liquefaction system incorporates features that enable cost-effective capital pricing to be achieved at a small scale while also having greater conversion efficiency.

The Altamont facility is the largest biomethane to LNG facility in the world. Climate Change Business Journal (CCBJ), a leading business research publication for the climate change industry, awarded GTI and partners a "Technology Merit" award in the Transportation category for the Altamont Landfill project. In addition, this project was also recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as one of the Landfill Methane Outreach Program winning Projects of the Year in 2009 for their innovation in generating renewable energy and reducing GHG emissions.

A project has been successfully completed between GTI and the Department of Defense to condition wastewater treatment biogas into a high-quality biomethane fuel that is converted to hydrogen (via steam reforming) to operate military base vehicles with hydrogen-powered fuel cells. Hydrogen generated at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM)’s water treatment plant was used to power 19 fuel cell forklifts and a fuel cell shuttle bus for a 12 month demonstration. GTI designed, built and installed the waste gas clean-up system and hydrogen generation infrastructure at JBLM.

Work is currently underway on a project supported by the South Carolina Research Authority to install and operate a landfill gas-to-hydrogen system that will power fuel cell lift trucks operating at BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, SC.

GTI has played a key role in numerous hydrogen fueling station projects, serving as the technical lead in collaboration with many local and national partners to improve fuel efficiency and reduce emissions among transit vehicles.

In June 2012, Capital Metro and the University of Texas Center for Electromechanics (UT-CEM) in Austin began operation of a hydrogen hybrid bus as a part of a year-long demonstration to test and further refine fuel-cell technology for public transit. It will fuel daily at a state-of-the-art hydrogen fueling station, designed by GTI, which allows for the on-site generation of hydrogen from pipeline natural gas, compression, storage and dispensing of high-pressure hydrogen.

Since 2007, GTI has hosted a publicly-accessible hydrogen fueling station at its headquarters in Des Plaines, Illinois.