Rentech and ClearFuels have been awarded a grant by the DOE to construct a biomass gasification demonstration unit. ClearFuels and Rentech are working together as partners to develop biomass plants that can produce diesel.

Rentech has a process demonstration unit (PDU) in Commerce City, Colorado that was constructed for the purpose of demonstrating its Rentech Fischer-Tropsch process. Rentech Inc. and ClearFuels Technology Inc. have formed a partnership to develop projects that include the ClearFuels gasification process and the Rentech Fischer-Tropsch process.

The DOE has awarded a conditional grant in the amount of $23 million for ClearFuels-Rentech to construct the ClearFuels gasifier at the Rentech PDU site and integrate it with the gasifier with the Rentech Fischer-Tropsch demonstration unit. The ClearFuels-Rentech project is one of nineteen integrated bio-refinery projects selected to receive funds from the DOE under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to accelerate the construction and operation of pilot, demonstration, and commercial scale bio-refineries.

These projects were selected by the DOE to validate refining process technologies and help lay the foundation for full commercial-scale development of an advanced bio-fuels industry in the United States.