DoE grants build Colorado biorefinery
ClearFuels will receive an initial $7.7 million (€5.6 million) toward the construction of the Colorado refinery as part of an overall $22.6 million DoE grant.
The ClearFuels-Rentech biorefinery in Colorado is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2011. It will serve as a test facility to evaluate the commercial scalability of converting biogas and biomass mixtures to fuels before ClearFuels builds commercial biorefineries planned for Hawaii. ClearFuels has begun development on a total of five US commercial biorefineries to be completed by 2015.
The biorefinery will contain a biomass gasifier capable of producing diesel and jet fuel from clean biomass, and be installed at Rentech's Energy Technology Center in Commerce City, Colorado.
Rentech has a 25% investment in ClearFuels and is partnering with it to develop commercial biorefineries.