Company & Leadership
About Plasma Biofuels
Plasma Biofuels LLC is a U.S.-based clean technology infrastructure developer in Chico, California, focused on converting difficult waste streams into valuable industrial products through advanced plasma conversion technology.
Our Vision
Value from materials too often left behind.
We see an opportunity to transform underutilized and difficult-to-manage waste materials into economically valuable resources while supporting environmental and industrial objectives.
Our focus includes woody biomass and waste tires, with hydrogen production and advanced carbon development pathways at the center of our project strategy. Commercial viability, feedstock suitability and product qualification must be evaluated for each project.
Leadership
Grounded in forest health. Focused on infrastructure.
Jim Houtman
Founder & CEO, Plasma Biofuels
Jim Houtman brings more than 30 years of professional firefighting experience, along with extensive leadership experience in wildfire risk reduction, forest health, and biomass management.
His firsthand understanding of the challenges facing forest restoration and waste-material management helped shape the vision for Plasma Biofuels: developing commercially viable infrastructure that transforms underutilized materials into valuable industrial resources.
As Founder and CEO, Jim leads the company's business development, strategic partnerships, and efforts to advance waste-to-hydrogen and advanced carbon production opportunities.
Technology Development
International technology experience. U.S. project development.
Plasma Biofuels' development strategy builds on international microwave plasma technology development and reported operating experience in South Korea. This experience belongs to the underlying technology developer; it is not a record of facilities built, owned or operated by Plasma Biofuels.
Plasma Biofuels focuses on developing U.S. projects around Hybrid Microwave Plasma Gasification (HMPG), bringing together feedstock supply, site development, engineering integration and prospective product markets.
Plasma Biofuels is advancing U.S. project development through site evaluation, engineering, feedstock partnerships, and prospective product markets. Each project will incorporate appropriate technical validation, permitting, and product qualification to support responsible commercial deployment.
Commercial Development Strategy
A staged pathway toward commercial scale.
Our planned strategy progresses from smaller demonstration-scale facilities toward larger commercial projects, with each stage informed by engineering, testing and market requirements.
Demonstration-scale development
Develop smaller demonstration-scale facilities to assess feedstock processing, system integration, operating requirements and product recovery.
Project and product validation
Use project-specific findings to inform permitting, engineering, feedstock agreements and buyer qualification before larger deployment.
Potential future scales
Evaluate 50- and 100-ton-per-day facilities as potential future development scales, not funded or operational Plasma Biofuels projects.
Future facility development and commercial deployment remain subject to engineering, financing, permitting, and market validation.
Work With Us
Build the next steps with us.
We welcome inquiries from feedstock suppliers, industrial hydrogen buyers, advanced carbon offtakers, site owners, public agencies and infrastructure investors.
Explore our partnership opportunities or contact us to discuss your materials, site, product requirements or development interests.