12-09-2011

US Department of energy awards 5 million USD for advanced biofuels technology project

Topsoe partners with RTI International in a project which will develop an advanced technology to produce biofuels that are compatible with the existing transportation fuels infrastructure. The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded the project $5 million USD for a cooperative agreement.

From biomass to transportation fuel
The project team will integrate RTI’s technology, which converts biomass into a “biocrude” intermediate, with Topsoe’s hydroprocessing technology, to upgrade the intermediate into transportation fuels.

A major portion of the project will focus on the optimisation of the technologies to achieve maximum biomass-to-fuels yield. The optimised process technologies will provide a significant option as a cost-competitive and sustainable biomass technology. This will support DOE’s goal of enabling nationwide production of biofuels nationwide, which in turn till reduce dependence on foreign oil.
 
Commercial reality
"This project will support the continued development of our catalytic biomass pyrolysis technology and further demonstrate its technical and economic potential for converting non-food biomass into transportation fuels," said David Myers, vice president of RTI’s Engineering and Technology Unit. "The U.S. Department of Energy’s support and our partnership with the global technology leader Topsoe are vital to bringing this technology closer to commercial reality."

”Renewable drop-in fuels produced from pyrolysis of biomass followed by hydroprocessing is a very interesting technology that will be able to produce substantial amount of fuel without impacting the food supply around the world, “said Henrik Rasmussen, vice president, Catalyst and Technology Houston. “We are excited about our collaboration with RTI to make this a success.”

For more information, please visit www.topsoe.com.