BTL + FT = Synthetic Jet Fuel and Diesel

Rentech is taking its Fischer-Tropsch process and combining it with the Biomass-to-Liquid process of ClearFuels Technology Inc. to accelerate the production of synthetic jet fuel and diesel fuel from biomass. This partnership will begin at up to 12 US-based projects and expand outward from there.

ClearFuels has begun project development of multiple commercial scale biomass-to-energy projects in the Southeastern US, Hawaii and internationally that will use the integrated ClearFuels-Rentech design and will be co-located at sugar mills and wood processing facilities. The wood waste projects alone are estimated to have an aggregate annual capacity of more than 100 million gallons of renewable synthetic fuels and 30 MW of renewable power.

To facilitate the development process, ClearFuels plans first to install a demonstration-scale biomass gasifier at Rentech’s Product Demonstration Unit (PDU) in Commerce City, Colorado to produce syngas from bagasse, virgin wood waste and other cellulosic feedstocks. The gasifier will be integrated with Rentech’s Fischer-Tropsch Process and UOP’s upgrading technology to produce high-quality renewable drop-in synthetic jet and diesel fuels at demonstration scale. _GCC

In other bioenergy news, Chemrec is planning a biorefinery plant in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, to convert black liquor to synthetic fuels. Converting the pulp/paper waste product (black liquor) to a useful fuel is becoming more popular in the paper industry worldwide. It is but one example of the increasing conversion of waste and pollutants into useful products and fuels.