ZeaChem announces technology institute and processing services

ZeaChem, a biorefining project developer and operator, has launched its Technology Institute & Processing Services in Boardman, Oregon.

The company has been operating its 250,000 gallon per year demonstration biorefinery in Boardman, Oregon since 2012. The company is now developing a commercial facility and, having realised the challenges involved in scaling up technology, has decided to take a supportive role in the industry to assist others with their own pre-commercial scale up efforts.

As operational capacity at the demo plant becomes available, it will open its doors to third parties who wish to take advantage of ZeaChem's equipment packages and trained operations staff to assist them in their scale up efforts.

The ZeaChem Technology Institute will enable third parties to scale their efforts in a more cost effective manner on a greatly accelerated timetable while avoiding the time, treasure and talent necessary to build, own and operate non-commercial demonstration facilities.

There are five types of customers who can benefit from working with ZeaChem in Boardman:
1. Specialty feedstock growers who wish to demonstrate the type and quality of cellulosic hydrolysates that can be produced from their crops.

2. Hydrolysis technologists who either want to run a particular combination of settings on ZeaChem's hydrolysis unit to produce hydrolysates, or who want to run the unit as a pretreatment system to create material that they further process with their own technology either on site or back home at their own facilities.

3. Biologic technologists, who have their own organism that wish to run in ZeaChem's seed train as a pilot scale unit or in the demonstration scale production fermenters.

4. Thermochemical technologists who wish to utilise ZeaChem's various catalytic reactors.

5. Technologists who have other processing units, such as advanced hydrolysis, recovery or thermochemical systems, that could either supplement or complement the design configuration of a biorefinery.

 

SOURCE: ZeaChem