UOP begins construction on Hawaii biofuels plant

Honeywell unit UOP has begun construction in Hawaii of a biofuels demonstration unit that will convert forest residuals, algae and other cellulosic biomass into green transportation fuels.

Backed by a $25 million US Department of Energy award, the Honeywell UOP Integrated Biorefinery will upgrade biomass into high-quality renewable gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

The project is part of the DOE's efforts to help spur the creation of the domestic biofuel industry, drive domestic job creation and reduce US dependence on foreign oil.

The project will also support the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative goal to achieve 70% clean energy by the year 2030.

Located at the Tesoro Corp. refinery in Kapolei, the Integrated Biorefinery will be used to demonstrate viability of the technology, test the fuels produced and evaluate the environmental footprint of the fuels and the process technology, the company said.

The project, which will generate more than 80 new jobs during construction, is scheduled to begin initial production in 2012. It is expected to be fully operational by 2014.

"Biomass is abundantly available today, and it is an important opportunity to consider as we seek alternatives that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and improve our environmental footprint," said Jim Rekoske, vice president and general manager of renewable energy and chemicals for Honeywell's UOP.

Once successfully proven in this demonstration unit, a commercial-scale facility using the same technology could produce as much as 50 million gal/year of drop-in green transportation fuels and could create as many as 800 new construction jobs and 1,000 new jobs in biomass production and refinery operations, Rekoske said.

The demonstration unit will utilize the RTP rapid thermal processing technology to rapidly convert biomass into a pourable, liquid biofuel.

This liquid biofuel will then be upgraded to green transportation fuels using hydroprocessing technology from Honeywell's UOP.