Flagship Ventures invests in Red Rock Biofuels

In the US, renewable fuels company Red Rock Biofuels has formed a strategic partnership with Flagship Ventures that sets the stage for the construction of its first commercial scale refinery in Lakeview, Oregon.

As part of this partnership, Flagship Ventures, a venture capital and venture creation firm focused on innovations in healthcare and sustainability, will invest in Red Rock, assume a seat on the board of directors and serve as a strategic advisor for future fundraising efforts.

Flagship will provide financial and strategic expertise as Red Rock moves toward construction of a commercial-scale refinery and secures additional partnerships, funding and customers. Flagship partner Brian Baynes, Ph.D., led the investment and will join Red Rock's board of directors.

Red Rock converts waste biomass from forests and sawmills into domestically produced jet, diesel and naphtha fuels. The company's process begins with the gasification of woody biomass to produce syngas, which is then cleaned and sent to a Fischer-Tropsch unit where it is converted to renewable syncrude. Finally, standard upgrading refines the syncrude to yield renewable jet, diesel and naphtha fuels which provide a lower carbon, cost competitive alternative to crude oil-based fuels.

Last year Red Rock received a $70 million (€66 million) DPA Title III award from the US Departments of Agriculture, Energy and Navy to help build its $200 million refinery. The refinery, slated to begin construction this summer, will convert approximately 140,000 tonnes of woody biomass into 15 million gallons per year of renewable, liquid transportation fuels. Also in 2014, Southwest Airlines agreed to purchase approximately 3 million gallons per year of Red Rock's low carbon, renewable jet fuel.

'We formed Red Rock Biofuels in response to widespread and devastating wildfires in the Western US and the rising demand for drop-in, cost competitive renewable jet and diesel fuels,' says Terry Kulesa, co-founder and CEO of Red Rock Biofuels. 'By removing and repurposing the excess biomass that fuels destructive forest fires, we see great potential in the "waste to value" sector, creating cleaner fuels, healthier forests and delivering sustainable biofuels.'

 

SOURCE: Red Rock Biofuels