UOP LLC has been selected for negotiation of a $25 million award from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to build a demonstration unit in Hawaii to convert cellulosic biomass into green transportation fuels. The project will use cellulosic biomass feedstocks or algae residuals to produce liquid biofuel pyrolysis oil, which will then be upgraded into green transportation fuels. The demonstration plant, which will be built at the Tesoro Corporation refinery in Kapolei, Hawaii, is expected to commence operations in 2014.
The demonstration unit will employ the RTP® rapid thermal processing technology developed by Ensyn Corporation. RTP rapidly heats biomass at ambient pressure to generate high yields of pourable, liquid pyrolysis oil. The pyrolysis oil will then be upgraded to green transportation fuels using technology developed by UOP, working with the DOE, the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Lab and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).
A range of cellulosic feedstocks will be used in the demonstration unit, including selected waste agriculture products, pulp, paper, woody biomass, algae and dedicated energy crops such as switchgrass and high-biomass sorghum.
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