Advance Bio Jet Fuel One Of Several Products To Be Produced

ClearFuels Technology and Rentech made a joint announcement Monday to say they have been selected to receive up to $23 million as a grant from the U.S. DOE to construct a biomass gasifier at Rentech’s Energy Technology Center (“RETC”) in Denver. The gasifier will be integrated with Rentech’s Product Demonstration Unit (“PDU”) for the production of renewable synthetic fuels from biomass. The proposed project team led by ClearFuels includes Rentech, URS, Linde/Hydro-Chem, Hawaiian Electric Company, National Renewable Energy Lab (“NREL”), and Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (“HNEI”).

The grant, which is subject to final negotiation of documents with the DOE, will be used to manufacture and install at RETC a 20 ton-per-day ClearFuels biomass gasifier designed to produce synthesis gas (“syngas”) from sugar cane bagasse, virgin wood waste and other cellulosic feedstocks. The gasifier will be integrated with Rentech’s existing PDU, which uses the Rentech Process and UOP’s upgrading technologies to produce renewable drop-in synthetic jet and diesel fuels at demonstration scale of 10 barrels per day. This joint demonstration of an integrated bio-refinery will lead to the final design basis for commercial facilities that are expected to use the combined technologies.

The renewable synthetic jet and diesel fuels eventually produced will meet all applicable fuels standards, be compatible with existing engines and pipelines, and burn cleanly, with emissions of particulates and other regulated pollutants significantly lower than emissions of traditional fuels. Jet fuel produced from the Fischer-Tropsch process, on which Rentech’s technology is based, is the only alternative fuel type currently certified for use by the U.S. Air Force and the FAA for use in commercial aircraft.

It is expected that the life-cycle carbon footprint of renewable fuels produced by ClearFuels-Rentech technologies can be near zero, depending on the feedstock. The ClearFuels gasification and Rentech Fischer-Tropsch conversion technologies have been developed tested and improved independently over the past 15 years. The unique integration of these technologies represents a breakthrough in the design of versatile biofuels production plants, promising a definitive advance in thermochemical biofuels conversion efficiency and flexibility, making ClearFuels and its partners leaders in producing multiple liquid fuels from the same biorefinery.

Rentech has a 25% strategic ownership interest in ClearFuels, which has begun development of multiple commercial-scale biomass-to-energy projects in the southeastern United States, Hawaii and internationally. These projects are expected to use an integrated ClearFuels-Rentech design and be co-located at sugar mills, and at wood and other biomass processing facilities.

Eric Darmstaedter, Chief Executive Officer of ClearFuels, said, “We are pleased that our team has been selected for this DOE grant; and we appreciate all the support we received from our partners and investors. Validating this integrated technology is particularly important as a step forward in our objective of lowering our oil imports into our home state of Hawaii while supporting local agriculture.”

Commenting on the award, D. Hunt Ramsbottom, President and Chief Executive Officer of Rentech, said, “We are pleased that Rentech and our partner, ClearFuels, have been selected to receive a DOE grant for an integrated bio-refinery to produce synthetic fuels. The ClearFuels gasification technology complements our Rentech-SilvaGas biomass gasification process, enabling plant configurations that can be optimized for various biomass feedstocks and markets.”

The ClearFuels-Rentech project is one of nineteen integrated bio-refinery projects selected to receive funds from the DOE under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to accelerate the construction and operation of pilot, demonstration, and commercial scale bio-refineries. The DOE indicated that these projects will validate refining technologies and help lay the foundation for full commercial-scale development of an advanced bio-fuels industry in the United States.

FMI: www.doe.gov