HOUSTON & PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Accelergy Corporation, a global leader in the production of high-grade, domestically sourced liquid fuels, today announced it has received a $1.3 million grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to move forward on the construction of a facility to demonstrate its integrated coal-biomass-to-liquids (CBTL) technology platform at Intertek PARC, located at the U-PARC facility in Pittsburgh.
Previously, Accelergy was awarded a $175,000 grant to conduct a feasibility study and determine the facility’s location. The new grant will allow Accelergy and its partners to showcase their fully integrated process for converting coal to liquids, and inform plans to develop commercial-scale facilities in the state.
“This grant is a strong endorsement of Accelergy and its partners’ technology, and shows the commitment of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to the development of advanced technologies that leverage the state’s abundant natural resources and will bring jobs to the state,” said Tim Vail, CEO of Accelergy. “We are laying the foundation for the commercialization of the domestically sourced fuels that will power U.S. fleets and help the United States achieve its energy security goals.”
“Intertek is proud to provide technical and scientific pilot plant and laboratory support for Accelergy for this exciting coal-biomass-to-liquids fuel project,” said Dr. Robert Absil, the General Manager of the Intertek PARC facility.
The facility will produce and test several types of non-petroleum fuel, including gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, and feature a carbon dioxide capture and recycle process utilizing algae to convert the carbon dioxide into additional liquid fuels and a bio-fertilizer.
Energy Strategy Environment LLC (ESE), a systems integration provider, will be responsible for bringing together the technologies and business partners for the algae based carbon capture and recycle components of the project.
“Recycling industrial CO2 emission into valuable carbon feedstocks for production of additional liquid fuels creates a sustainable pathway for CBTL,” said ESE founder Mark Allen, P.E. “Algal biomass from the project will be adapted for use as a natural bio-fertilizer with the potential to reduce the use of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and to sequester carbon in agricultural soils and reclaimed mine site soils, further benefitting the environment.”
The grant was approved with a unanimous vote from the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority. Accelergy has been in talks with various state politicians since early 2010, when former State Rep. Dave Kessler first brought the company to Pennsylvania. Kessler has since formed Advanced Energy Initiatives LLC and now represents the company in Pennsylvania.
“The grant represents a strong level of bipartisan support from both sides of the aisle, and we are grateful to state legislators and Gov. Corbett for their endorsement of this project,” Dave Kessler said. “Accelergy’s process and the resulting fuels would be much cleaner than refining imported oil or drilling for oil off America's shores, and the potential for this technology in Pennsylvania is enormous.”
Accelergy’s technology addresses the simultaneous challenges of increasing the supply of secure fuels while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The integration of CBTL technology and carbon capture and recycling processes using algae photobioreactors to recycle CO2 makes it possible to produce abundant cleaner fuels from domestic resources.
The company currently has agreements in place with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering (TARDEC) Center to test and certify the resulting fuels for various applications.
About Accelergy Corp.:
Accelergy is a global leader in producing ultra-clean synthetic fuels, promoting energy security by using domestic resources. Our proprietary catalytic technology significantly increases the efficiency of the Coal-Biomass-to-liquid process (CBTL) while significantly reducing greenhouse emissions. Based in Houston, Texas, Accelergy has established an international presence in partnerships with some of the world's leading energy companies. For more information, please visit www.accelergy.com.
About Energy Strategy Environment LLC:
Energy Strategy Environment is a Colorado based systems integration provider bringing together the technologies, processes, and business partners to deliver scalable-engineered carbon capture and recycle solutions that monetize industrial CO2 emissions into profitable revenue streams. Founder and CEO, Mark P. Allen, P.E., is an industry expert in assessing technologies and processes that utilize CO2 from industrial sources to grow algal biomass and produce fuels and terrestrial carbon sequestration solutions. For more information please contact Mark Allen at markallen87@mac.com.
About Intertek:
Intertek (ITRK.L) is a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world. From auditing and inspection, to testing, quality assurance and certification, Intertek people add value to customers' products and processes, supporting their success in the global marketplace. Intertek has the expertise, resources and global reach to support customers through its network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices and over 27,000 people in more than 100 countries. Intertek PARC has provided pilot plant testing services to the global oil, refining and biofuels industries since 1986.