Choren's Freiberg BTL to Come On Line in 2010

Choren's BTL technology achieving wood chip to fuels using gasification plus Fischer Tropsch, will begin producing fuels commercially in 2010, at the Freiberg Germany location.

The plant is being built in Freiberg in south Germany by Choren Industries to produce about 15,000 tonnes of biomass-to-liquid (BTL) fuels largely using wood products and wood-based waste.

Initial output of gas could start in October this year leading to output of BTL liquid fuels in early 2010, said Michael Deutmeyer, chief executive of Choren's biomass supply subsidiary Choren Biomass.

Germany is among the first European countries building test plants to produce commercial volumes of second generation biofuels from a wide range of biomass materials ranging from wood chips and other forest products to straw, hay, grass, vegetable waste and low grade crops. _Bioenergy

Choren's plant puts together many of the next generation biofuels components, which must be thoroughly tested to pave the way for a large scale to biomass biofuels over the next few decades.

If Choren's venture is successful on its own merits -- without depending upon economically destructive carbon regulations for its profitability -- it will open the door to both its own expansion and the entry of other similar ventures worldwide.