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.

Rentech, Inc. announced that it will construct a liquid fuels project in Rialto, California. The Rentech Rialto Project is planned to produce 600 bpd of RenDiesel, a ultra-pure synthetic diesel fuel and 35 Mw of electricity for export. This is enough electricity for approximately 10,000 homes.

The feedstock for the project is green, woody biomass. Green, woody biomass consists of grass clippings and trimmings that are currently dumped in landfills. Rentech is negotiating agreements with trash haulers to receive the waste biomass material. The biomass material is a renewable resource and is not a food source.

This is a biomass to liquids project. Rentech will gasify green, woody biomass at the Rialto Renewable Energy Center and has selected Silvagas technology for the gasification process. The syngas will be converted using the Rentech Process to clean, ultra-pure diesel and naptha liquid products. Since the feedstock is biomass, the project will be a near zero carbon producer project.

The Rialto project will assist with meeting the requirements of the State of California Low Carbon Fuel Standard Executive Order 1-S-07. This order signed by Governor Swarzenegger is designed to reduce the reliance on carbon intensive fuel.

Rentech Inc. reported that it has produced thousands of gallons of liquid fuels at it’s Pilot Demonstration Unit (PDU) in Commerce City, Colorado. Rentech recently completed its first PDU production run in excess of 800 continuous hours at the facility and produced thousands of gallons of synthetic fuels including Jet A and Jet A+fuel and ultra-low sulfur diesel. All of the synthetic fuels met or exceeded specifications.

Rentech will analyze the data collected during the first production run. After the evaluations are complete, the company plans to make modifications and adjustments to the PDU to further improve catalyst activity, efficiency, yields and quality. A second production run will be conducted after the modfications are completed.

The Rentech PDU is designed to product 420 gallons per day of synthetic jet fuel, ultra-low diesel and specialty chemicals. It’s the only operating synthetic transportation fuels facility in the United States.

Rentech Inc. announced that it has successfully produced synfuels at it’s Pilot Demonstration Unit (PDU) in Denver, Colorado. Coal Gasification News had previously reported that Rentech had completed construction of it’s PDU.

Rentech’s pilot demonstration unit has a capacity to produce 420 gallons of synthetic fuel per day using Rentech’s proprietary Fischer-Tropsch technology. The PDU is currently producing synthetic fuels from syngas produced from natural gas, but the Rentech Fischer-Tropsch technology is targeted for syngas projects that gasify coal and biomass. The natural gas syngas is produced using a steam methane reforming (SMR) unit. It’s not known if Rentech will add a pilot scale gasfication unit to the PDU.

The synthetic fuels have not been tested and approved yet, but Rentech is confident that the testing will be successful. Rentech believes that the PDU provides them with valuable data that will assist them with the design of full scale commercial projects. The production of synthestic fuels from the PDU is major milestone for the company.

Rentech announced that it has completed its Pilot Demonstration Unit (PDU). The PDU is located in Commerce City, Colorado. The PDU capacity is 10 BPD of Fischer-Tropsch liquid fuels. The Rentech Fischer-Tropsch process is a proprietary Fischer-Tropsch process that converts syngas to diesel and jet fuel. The typical plant configuration includes a coal/petcoke/biomass gasification unit to produce the syngas that is the feedstock for the Rentech Fischer-Tropsch process.

The company also announced an alliance with UOP to jointly offer the companies respective technologies for commercial production of synthetic fuels and waxes. The alliance provides a one-stop solution to developers for synthetic gas conversion and product upgrading. As partners, Rentech and UOP, expect to increase their market reach and jointly offer technologies that can produce ultra-clean synthetic fuels.