Biofuels firm Gevo to build isobutanol processing demonstration plant in Texas
Renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels firm Gevo will work with a subsidiary of the Arabian American Development Co. to build a hydrocarbon processing demonstration plant at their facility just outside of Houston in Silsbee, Texas.
This demonstration plant is expected to process up to 10,000 gal/month of Gevo’s isobutanol into a variety of renewable hydrocarbon materials including jet fuel for engine testing, isooctane for gasoline, isooctene and paraxylene for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and will supply other potential customers with material for product qualification and evaluation.
The demonstration plant is slated for completion before the end of 2011. The contract between the companies is for two years with one-year extensions thereafter.
“This demonstration plant allows us to complete the value chain from isobutanol to renewable hydrocarbon fuels and chemical intermediates which is one of our key strategic objectives,” said Patrick Gruber, CEO of Gevo.
“With the operation of this plant, Gevo intends to demonstrate its fully integrated biorefinery - going from renewable carbohydrates all the way to fungible hydrocarbon materials used across the refining and petrochemical industries,” he added. “We expect this plant to showcase the value of our renewable hydrocarbons and drive future customer demand.”
“We have a growing list of potential customers and end-users interested in renewable hydrocarbons for a variety of market applications from jet fuel to renewable PET,” said Christopher Ryan, chief operating officer of Gevo.
“This plant should allow us to supply early adopters with product so they can test our material, make samples and start their selling cycle. We also expect to gain critical technical and market insights along the way.”
South Hampton Resources, the subsidiary of Arabian American Development Co., has agreed to provide Gevo with toll-manufacturing services at its Silsbee facility and complete the final design and engineering package for the demonstration plant from preliminary plans supplied by Gevo.
Gevo will own all the intellectual property that results from the work including the plans, designs and systems developed for the demonstration plant and future commercial-scale plants.
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