Honeywell's UOP Establishes Renewable Energy And Chemicals Unit
Accelerates commercialization of biofuel production and processing at refineries worldwide
Des Plaines, IL - UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, announced that it has established a new business unit dedicated to introducing new technology for processing renewable energy sources in existing or new petroleum refineries worldwide.
The new unit, called Renewable Energy and Chemicals, will accelerate UOP's already existing efforts to develop renewable energy technologies by developing profitable ways refineries can use UOP's petroleum processing technologies to convert bio-feedstocks, such as vegetable oils, greases and certain waste products, into fuel and chemicals.
"UOP developed every major step change in refining technology over the past 90 years," said Carlos A. Cabrera, president and CEO of UOP. "Processing bio-derived feedstocks is the cornerstone of what will be another major step forward. We continue to invest resources as part of our overall commitment to our own sustainability goals and to improving the economics and flexibility of refinery operations worldwide."
Jennifer Holmgren has been named director of the new unit and will report to Cabrera. Holmgren most recently served as UOP's director of exploratory and fundamental research. She has been instrumental in developing key partnerships with government organizations, academia and other industry experts to identify and develop viable processing options for biorenewables in conventional refineries.
Production of biofuels such as ethanol and biodiesel is expanding because of a number of factors, including the continued rising cost of petroleum, availability of local energy sources, commitment to reduce greenhouse gases and government mandates and incentives. UOP's development efforts have targeted the creation of transportation fuels which can be used with the existing diesel and gasoline fuel infrastructure.
UOP received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy in 2004 for a study that identified a number of opportunities for biorenewables in petroleum refineries.
The study determined that co-processing vegetable oils with petroleum feedstocks can produce gasoline and olefins, the building blocks for producing plastics and other materials. UOP Fluid Catalytic Cracking, or FCC, technology can offer refineries this capability. The study also showed that UOP's technologies can be used to convert vegetable oils to high-cetane diesel fuel, also known as "green" diesel. This sustainable technology is expected to be commercially available in early 2007.
UOP collaborated on this project with DOE's National Renewable Energy Lab, the primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development in the U.S., and Pacific Northwest National Lab (PNNL), a Richland, Wash.-based DOE laboratory with world class catalysis research and development.
Separately, UOP teamed with PNNL in 2004 to deliver technology for converting glycerol, a by-product from converting vegetable oil to biodiesel, to higher value propylene glycol.
UOP's Renewable Energy and Chemicals unit also plans to identify and evaluate technologies for refineries that use other renewable energy sources.
SOURCE: UOP LLC