Velocys plans for the construction of a commercial BTL plant move forward
Velocys is a company focused on the development of gas-to-liquids
(GTL) and biomass-to-liquids (BTL) technologies, providing solutions to
transform several feedstocks (natural gas, landfill gas and biomass) into
products such as diesel, jet fuel and waxes. These technologies are
specifically designed for small-scale and modular plants. The company has a multi-disciplinary
staff operating from its commercial centre in Houston (Texas, USA) and technical
facilities near Oxford (UK) and Columbus (Ohio, USA).
On 19th June, Velocys announced that the US
Department of Agriculture (USDA) had invited it to submit a Phase II
Application to obtain a loan guarantee for a commercial-scale biorefinery (see press release). This invitation was made after a successful
Phase I Application process. Under the USDA 9003 Biorefinery, Renewable
Chemical, and Biobased Product Manufacturing Assistance Program, a material portion of the project
debt (up to $200 million) is guaranteed by the USDA, accelerating the timeline
and financially de-risking the project to final investment decision (FID). Velocys
has engaged Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) as the lender of record
and as its financial advisor.
Figure 1. Aerial view of the ENVIA Energy's GTL
plant with Velocys’ technology (extracted from the Velocys web page). The new BTL
biorefinery would build based on this reference plant.
Available data about the project:
Feedstock
and processing capacity
|
1,000 dry
tons per day of woody biomass residues in the Southeast US.
There is
an abundant quantity of low-cost feedstock in the region that will provide a
long term strategic supply of biomass.
|
Products
and production capacity
|
19
million gallons per year (1,400 barrels per day) of renewable diesel fuel.
|
Platforms
|
Thermochemical
via. Syngas platform.
|
Processes
|
- Preparation
of synthesis gas by the gasification of the solid feedstock.
- The
Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process to convert the syngas into paraffinic
hydrocarbons.
- Upgrading
to produce finished products.
|
Partners
|
Gasification:
ThermoChem Recovery International (TRI).
Front End
Loading (FEL-2) study: IHI E&C (see press release).
|
Timeline
|
The final phase of the loan guarantee process
will require identify and mitigate risk and complete evaluation of the
project.
Velocys has the goal of completing all work
packages required by the USDA 9003 Program, concluding commercial
negotiations, securing project equity funding and reaching FID during the
course of 2018.
|
The new biorefinery would build on the deployment
of the Velocys’s technology at ENVIA Energy's GTL plant in Oklahoma City. This
commercial reference plant is adjacent to Waste Management's East Oak landfill
site and the first product was produced in February 2017 (see press release). The technology combines super-active catalysts
with microchannel reactors, this is the heart of its GTL and BTL plants. Velocys
has identified other locations in the Southeast U.S. that could host plants
with capacities totalling 100 million gallons over the next 10 years.