Energy company BP and cellulosic ethanol developer Verenium have announced the formation of a 50-50 joint venture to develop and commercialise cellulosic ethanol from non-food feedstocks.
The companies have agreed to commit $45 million (€35.7 million) in funding and assets to the joint venture company.The joint venture company will initially focus on developing and securing financing for a first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facility in Highlands County, Florida, and expects to break ground on that site in 2010The estimated construction cost for this 36 million gallon a year facility is between $250 and $300 million. Production from this plant is expected to begin in 2012.

With plans to add additional capacity, the joint venture company also intends to develop a second site in the Gulf Coast region.

Verenium's Specialty Enzyme business harnesses the power of enzymes to create a broad range of specialty products to meet high-value commercial needs.

In the US, BP blended and distributed more than 1 billion US gallons of ethanol and around 1.6 million US gallons of biodiesel in 2008.

Since 2006, BP has announced investments of more than $1.5 billion in biofuels research, development and operations.

This includes partnerships with other companies to develop the technologies, feedstocks and processes required to produce advanced biofuels and $500 million over 10 years in the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), at which biotechnologists are investigating applications of biotechnology to energy.

Category: BioFuel

2009-02-21 10:38:51: Posted by: jhon

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