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Jet fuel from biomass project moves ahead in Northern Ontario

Rentech’s proposed Olympiad Renewable Energy Centre (Olympiad Project) in The Township of White River, Ont., has been selected by the province of Ontario for a proposed supply of up to 1.1 million cubic metres of Crown timber. The wood supply, composed primarily of forest waste and unmerchantable species, would be used for the production of renewable RenJet®, Rentech’s clean certified low-carbon jet fuel.

The proposed wood allocation to Rentech’s project is the largest ever awarded in the provincial wood supply competitive process. The selection is the first step in the process of making the wood supply available to the project.

Rentech’s Olympiad Project is being designed to produce approximately 85 million litres annually of renewable and certified low-carbon RenJet fuel. The project will also produce 43 million litres annually of renewable naphtha, a chemical feedstock.

Scheduled to be in service in 2015, the Olympiad Project will employ the Rentech-ClearFuels biomass gasification system and the Rentech Process to produce the only type of alternative jet fuel certified for use in commercial aviation today.

Rentech is working closely with Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), whose $500 million NextGen Biofuels Fund (NGBF) offers a significant potential funding source for the Olympiad Project.

“Having our project selected in the Provincial Wood Supply Competitive Process for a proposed large, sustainable feedstock supply from the Ontario government is a significant achievement and step forward for our renewable energy project,” comments D. Hunt Ramsbottom, president and CEO of Rentech. “We will be working closely with SDTC, First Nations, and other partners to secure project financing. SDTC’s funding opportunity played a key role in Rentech’s decision to pursue a large-scale renewable energy facility in Northern Ontario. We’re encouraged by the Government of Canada’s commitment to commercializing renewable energy projects.”

Rentech operates a demonstration facility in Commerce City, Colorado, deploying its synthetic fuels technology that has produced more than 150,000 litres of certified synthetic fuels. The Rentech-SilvaGas biomass gasification process can convert multiple biomass feedstocks into synthesis gas (syngas) for production of renewable fuels and power. Combining the gasification process with Rentech’s unique application of syngas conditioning and clean-up technology and the patented Rentech Process based on Fischer-Tropsch chemistry, Rentech offers an integrated solution for production of synthetic fuels from biomass. Final product upgrading and acid gas removal technologies are provided under an alliance with UOP, a Honeywell company.