Oberon and SHV Energy join forces to accelerate use of renewable DME in transportation
Type of post: NEWS.
Oberon Fuels
(company aimed at decarbonizing transportation) and SHV Energy (the world’s largest
distributor of propane fuel) are partnering to accelerate the use of renewable dimethyl
ether (rDME) to reduce the carbon footprint of transportation fuel. When
blended with propane, rDME enables a significant reduction of the carbon
intensity.
Press release: “SHV Energy partners with Oberon
Fuels to accelerate use of renewable DME (rDME) to decarbonise transportation”, 11/2/2020.
Related posts:
- “Neste
starts up the world's first large-scale renewable propane production unit in
its Rotterdam biorefinery”, 22/3/2018.
- “Oberon
Fuels obtains a grant from the State of California for production of renewable
dimethyl ether”, 14/6/2019.
Figure 1. Oberon and SHV
Energy join forces to accelerate use of renewable DMR in transportation
Using its proprietary small-scale process,
Oberon Fuels focuses on the production of rDME from waste and/or renewable
resources. Oberon Fuels’ pilot plant in Brawley (California) produces
fuel-grade DME in North America, which has been used by Volvo Trucks, Mack
Trucks and Ford Motor Company for vehicle demonstrations around the world. Over
30 M$ in private funding has been invested in Oberon Fuels since its founding
in 2010. Additionally, the
State of California in 2019 awarded Oberon a 2.9 M$ grant to upgrade its
existing DME pilot facility to demonstration scale and facilitate the first
production of rDME in USA, with a target production capacity of approximately
1.6 million gallons per year.
Building on this momentum, SHV Energy and
Oberon will leverage their collaboration in three ways:
1) funding will augment the grant to further
develop DME fuelling infrastructure and vehicle development;
2) SHV Energy’s technical resources will help
test the use of rDME blended with propane (with only a 20% blend of rDME,
propane’s carbon intensity value is reduced from 83 gCO2e/MJ to 11 gCO2e/MJ.);
3) SHV Energy’s extensive global distribution
network will facilitate greater use of rDME in numerous energy applications
worldwide.