ZeaChem begins construction of biorefinery

18 November 2009

US biorefinery developer ZeaChem has begun construction of its 250,000 gallon-per-year facility to produce advanced biofuels and bio-based chemicals.

The construction process is beginning with the fabrication of front-end fermentation, a critical first step of the biorefinery fermentation process. The project is in conjunction with Colorado-based chemical engineering firm Hazen Research.

Jim Imbler, president and CEO, ZeaChem, said ‘We have a dedicated energy feedstock supplier, we have raised necessary capital, we have completed the initial design package and are finalising the detailed engineering and design package. Initiating construction of this front-end fermentation unit operation demonstrates that ZeaChem is accelerating deployment of its unique hybrid biorefining technology.’

Hazen Research will construct and host the initial process unit and provide infrastructure and operations support. ZeaChem is constructing the semi work-scale biorefinery utilising skid-mounted design, which allows construction of individual process units more quickly in fabrication shops.

ZeaChem said that it intends to scale to a commercial biorefinery upon successful operations at the semi-works scale facility. The core technology of such a facility would come online in 2010.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: biofuels

This story was published on Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 at 6:13 pm and is filed under North America, biomass/biofuel, companies. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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