UK-headed Johnson Matthey plc (JM), a global leader in sustainable technologies, and compatriot oil, gas, and energy major bp plc, have announced that their "FT CANS" technology has enabled Fulcrum BioEnergy’s Sierra BioFuels Plant in the United States (US) to successfully produce synthetic crude oil for clean transportation fuels.
Located outside of Reno, Nevada (NV), Fulcrum BioEnergy recently announced that its Sierra Biofuels plant successfully produced a low-carbon synthetic crude oil using municipal waste as a feedstock.
The Sierra BioFuels plant uses JM and bp’s FT CANS technology to convert synthesis gas, produced from waste, into synthetic crude oil which can then be converted to fuels.
The plant will produce synthetic crude oil, which is expected to ultimately be refined to approximately 11 million (US) gallons (≈ 41.3 million litres) of renewable, low-carbon transportation fuels each year from approximately 175 000 tonnes of landfill waste.
We’ve worked in partnership with bp, creating deep technology insights for more than a decade. This close collaboration has led to the significant milestone we’re seeing today. The ability to convert household waste into low-cost, low-carbon transportation fuel is truly innovative and is a crucial step in decarbonizing transport, said Alberto Giovanzana, Chief Commercial Officer of Catalyst Technologies at Johnson Matthey.
JM and bp have been developing FT technology together over a number of years and have collaborated over the past decade to accelerate this latest enhanced technology.
JM and bp signed their first license with waste-to-fuels developer Fulcrum to use their award-winning FT CANS technology in 2018.
We’re excited that commercial-scale use of our Fischer Tropsch technology built on a foundation of top-class research and development, in collaboration with our technology partner, Johnson Matthey could help support the decarbonization of the transport sector, said Noemie Turner, VP of Technology Development and commercialization at bp.