NREL, Chevron Establish Research Alliance to Advance Cellulosic Biofuels
October 23, 2006 // Published as a news service by IHS
Researchers from CTV and NREL will collaborate on projects to develop the next generation of process technologies that will convert cellulosic biomass such as forestry and agricultural wastes into biofuels such as ethanol and renewable diesel.
"Our goal is to further diversify the world's energy sources in order to help meet the growth in future energy demand," said Donald Paul, vice president and chief technology officer, Chevron Corporation.
"Through this public-private collaboration we hope to broaden the energy mix by accelerating the development of the next generation of process technologies that will convert cellulosic biomass into biofuels. Process efficiency and suitability for industrial-scale deployment, similar to today's transportation infrastructure systems, are key success factors."
"Increasing the amount of fuels we can make from America's farms, forests and fields will greatly enhance the nation's energy security and economy and help the environment," said NREL Director Dan Arvizu. "Agreements such as this will help us accomplish that."
CTV will also fund research which complements DOE-sponsored work at NREL on bio-oil reforming, a process by which bio-oils derived from the decomposition of biological feedstocks are then converted into hydrogen.
"We believe that for the next generation of biofuels production to become commercially viable, there must be flexibility to diversify the feedstocks, and the processes by which the biofuels are produced must also increase in efficiency and effectiveness," said Rick Zalesky, vice president of Biofuels and Hydrogen, CTV. "This research will address both of these fundamental challenges."
The alliance with NREL is the third biofuels research partnership launched by Chevron this year. Chevron separately announced research initiatives with the University of California, Davis and the Georgia Institute of Technology focusing on cellulosic biofuels enabled by advanced manufacturing technologies for distributed energy production.
Source: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).