Honeywell Biofuels: Asian Green Technology Holdings Report

Online, September 5, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Honeywell subsidiary UOP has begun construction on a biofuels demonstration project in Hawaii that is set to convert forest waste, algae and other cellulosic biomass into transport fuels. The bio-refinery will handle cellulosic biomass, forest residuals and algae to produce biofuels for the transportation industry, upgrading biomass into renewable petrol, diesel and jet fuel. The project has been awarded $25 million (€17.5 million) from the US Department of Energy (DoE) and will help the DoE achieve its goal of reducing the nation's dependence on imported oil. It will also support the Hawaii Clean Energy initiative goal to achieve 70% clean energy by 2030. Initial production at the refinery will begin next year before it starts full operations in 2014. Following the successful demonstration of the technology, it could be scaled up in a 50 million gallon a year commercial-scale refinery, producing drop-in green transportation fuels, and 800 construction jobs and 1,000 new jobs in biomass production and refinery operations. 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 U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The project is expected to generate 85 jobs.

UOP, a Honeywell company, has also secured a contract from Zhejiang Julong Petrochemical Co (ZJLPC) to provide technology for a new propylene production unit at ZJLPC's facility in Pinghu City in the Zhejiang Province of China. The company will provide engineering design, technology licensing, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, staff training and technical service for this project. The new propane dehydrogenation unit will use UOP's C3 Oleflex technology to convert propane to propylene, a material used in the production of chemicals and materials such as films and packaging. According to UOP, the Oleflex process uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert propane to propylene. The new unit is expected to start up in 2013 and to produce 450,000 metric tons of propylene annually. UOP is a supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, process plants, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical and gas processing industries.

UOP, which became a Honywell company in 2005, has been the world leader in developing and delivering technology petroleum refining and gas processing for nearly 100 years. The company claims more than 60 percent of the world's gasoline and 85 percent of biodegradable detergents are made using its technology. In 2007, UOP began work to develop renewable energy. In four years, it has developed UOP/Eni Ecofining technology for the production of Honeywell Green Diesel and then created a process to produce Honeywell Green Jet Fuel. Green Jet Fuel has not only been used by U.S. Naval airplanes in test flights but has also powered the first commercial aircraft to complete a transatlantic flight using biofuel. In 2008, UOP partnered with Ensyn to create biofuel development company Envergent Technologies. With the partnership came Ensyn's trademarked Rapid Thermal Processing (RTP) technology which Enysyn says is the world's "only thermal conversion process that has been commercially proven." RTP converts biomass into liquid biofuel which is further processed using UOP hydroprocessing technology to make transportation fuel.

Analysts at Asian Green Technology Holdings believe that UPO and Honeywell are well on their way to making further progress in biofuels and renewable energies, making them a company to watch.