Virent and HCL CleanTech receive grant
Virent Energy Systems, a US, Wisconsin-based advanced biofuel technology provider, and biofuels and bioproducts firm HCL CleanTech have been awarded a $900,000 (€680,847) grant that will part-fund a project looking to demonstrate cellulosic sugars as feedstocks for drop-in biofuels and bioproducts.
The grant was awarded by BIRD Energy, a programme for US – Israel joint renewable energy development funded by the US Department of Energy, the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures, and the BIRD Foundation.
The grant will fund almost half of the $2.1 million total project cost.
The aim of the project is to address the key hurdles facing cellulosic biofuels, including price, performance and infrastructure compatibility.
The project combines HCL CleanTech’s proprietary lignocellulosic technologies that produce non-food-based sugars with Virent’s BioForming technology that converts plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules.
‘Economically converting plentiful cellulosic biomass into renewable, fungible hydrocarbon fuels and products will enable broad market acceptance and is the most realistic alternative to displace petroleum and create a clean energy transportation sector in the coming years,’ says Virent’s CEO Lee Edwards.
‘Bob Jansen, head of HCL CleanTech Engineering, adds: ‘We built the demo unit operations at a size that will allow us to scale up directly to a small commercial facility, which we plan to integrate into a paper mill by the end of 2012.’
The grant was awarded by BIRD Energy, a programme for US – Israel joint renewable energy development funded by the US Department of Energy, the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures, and the BIRD Foundation.
The grant will fund almost half of the $2.1 million total project cost.
The aim of the project is to address the key hurdles facing cellulosic biofuels, including price, performance and infrastructure compatibility.
The project combines HCL CleanTech’s proprietary lignocellulosic technologies that produce non-food-based sugars with Virent’s BioForming technology that converts plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules.
‘Economically converting plentiful cellulosic biomass into renewable, fungible hydrocarbon fuels and products will enable broad market acceptance and is the most realistic alternative to displace petroleum and create a clean energy transportation sector in the coming years,’ says Virent’s CEO Lee Edwards.
‘Bob Jansen, head of HCL CleanTech Engineering, adds: ‘We built the demo unit operations at a size that will allow us to scale up directly to a small commercial facility, which we plan to integrate into a paper mill by the end of 2012.’
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