Gasoline from Biowaste Gasification Facility in Louisiana

01 December 2011

Colorado based gasified drop-in advanced biofuels company, Sundrop Fuels has agreed to purchase about 1200 acres of land near Alexandria, Louisiana, for the construction and operation of its first production facility.

According to the company, its inaugural facility will use sustainable forest waste combined with hydrogen from clean-burning natural gas to produce up to 50 million gallons (190 million litres) per year of ready to use 'green gasoline'.

Located in Rapides Parish outside of Alexandria, Louisiana, Sundrop said that its planned advanced biofuels plant will cost approximately $450 to $500 million to build and will be financed in part through the sale of tax-exempt Private Activity Bonds, which do not entail any financial obligation from state or local authorities.

Louisiana also provided the company with performance based incentives for the facility, which is expected to employ about 150 people.

The company said that it will use a gasification process to convert cellulosic feedstock into synthesis gas, which will then be made into biobased 'green gasoline' for use in today's combustion engines via the nation's existing fuels distribution infrastructure.

The facility will also provide an operational platform for the company to begin field integration of its proprietary RP Reactor radiant particle heat transfer gasification technology.

According to the company, the super-efficient, ultrahigh-temperature process will drive Sundrop Fuels' future massive-scale biofuels plants, which are planned to produce more than 200 million gallons (760 million litres) of drop in biofuels annually.

The company also said that its biofuel is designed to cost as much or less than petroleum based transportation fuels, and that it plans to achieve a combined production capacity of more than one billion gallons by 2020

Sundrop Fuels has received significant financial backing from Chesapeake Energy Corporation the largest producer of natural gas in northern Louisiana's Haynesville Shale Field. Chesapeake invested $155 million in Sundrop Fuels last summer as part of the company's integrated campaign to utilise the U.S.'s abundant natural gas supplies.

The company's investors also include two of the world's premier venture capital firms, Oak Investment Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers.


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