We first brought you the story of
Sundrop Fuels in December, after the advanced biofuels company announced plans
for its first commercial project near Alexandria, La. The Colorado-based
startup is significantly backed by big names, including strategic partner
Chesapeake Energy Corp., with additional investments from Oak Investment
Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers.
Now Sundrop Fuels will be working with
another big name in the industry as it continues forward progress on its inaugural
project in Rapides Parish, La. The gasification-based advanced biofuels company
has signed a licensing agreement with ExxonMobil to use its patented
methanol-to-gas technology at its facility.
Sundrop Fuels announced plans for its
alternative fuels project in Nov. 2011. With plans to break ground by the end
of the year and a goal of being in production by 2014, the company's first
commercial plant is designed to produce up to 50 million gallons of renewable
gasoline per year.
Adding ExxonMobil to the mix strengthens
Sundrop's safety net because it means that one more major company has a stake
in the project's success. The methanol-to-gasoline process was developed in the
1970s and successfully commercialized for a large-scale natural gas-to-gasoline
plant in the 1980s in New Zealand. The Louisiana project would mark the first
time the MTG process is used for the production of biofuels.
The success of the Louisiana project is
crucial for Sundrop Fuels, which needs a commercial installation of its RP Reactor
to prove its radiant particle heat transfer gasification technology. The
company hopes to use this project as a stepping stone for future massive-scale
biofuels plants that can produce more than 300 million gallons of renewable,
drop-in biofuels annually.
Further Reading:
Alt-fuels Firm Sundrop to Use ExxonMobil
Process at Rapides Parish Site –
The Town Talk; June 30, 2012
Sundrop
Fuels to Use ExxonMobil MTG Technology for Nation's First "Green
Gasoline" Production Facility – Virtual-Strategy Magazine; June
27, 20120
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