Cobalt and American Process partner for biobutanol

In the US, renewable fuels company Cobalt Technologies and biorefinery technology firm American Process (API) have partnered to build an industrial-scale cellulosic biorefinery for the production of biobutanol.

In addition, the two companies have also agreed to jointly market a GreenPower+ Biobutanol solution that will convert biomass into power.

GreenPower+ Biobutanol technology converts part of a boiler cellulosic biomass feedstock into renewable biobutanol, a chemical that is used in a variety of products, including paints and other coatings, and a platform for the production of renewable jet fuel and other valuable compounds.

As part of the agreement, Colbalt Technologies and American Process will integrate Cobalt's patent pending continuous fermentation and distillation technology into American Process' Alpena Biorefinery, which is currently under construction in Alpena, Michigan, US.

The plant, which is scheduled to begin manufacturing ethanol in early 2012 before it switches to producing biobutanol in mid-2012, will produce 470,000 gallons of biobutanol a year, which will be pre-sold to chemical industry partners.

'We are excited to be partnering with American Process to commercialise our technology,' says Rick Wilson, Cobalt Technologies' CEO. 'The American Process Alpena Biorefinery plant gives is a great opportunity to demonstrate our technology at a commercial scale and provides an excellent model for how GreenPower+ Biobutanol technology can add value to biomass power facilities. We expect to move quickly from running the Alpena plant to building multi-million gallon facilities.'

The Alpena biorefinery will be part-funded by an $18 million (€12.4 million) grant from the US Department of Energy (DoE) and a $4 million grant from the State of Michigan. The plant will demonstrate the conversion of hemicelluloses extracted from woody biomass, to fermentable sugars that can be used for ethanol production. At the same time Cobalt's technology will demonstrate that these sugars can also produce butanol.

Theodora Retsina, CEO of American Process, states: 'At American Process, our focus has been the production of fermentable sugars from lignocellulosic feedstocks and Cobalt's participation in the Alpena plant validates that we are on the right track.'