Ben Richardson, CEO at SulNOx, confident they can cost-effectively decarbonise commercial shipping. Watch the video here.
Expatbrat: please give your source for Schubert's choice of the BP/Johnson Matthey FT reactors.
The press release needs some background information. Earlier this year there was a major change in management after Red Rock ran out of money to complete the construction of their Lakeview, OR. VLS FT reactor and catalyst is used in this plant. The original gasification technology deployed in this plant was licensed from TCG Global. It is not clear why Red Rock switch gasification technologies although the passing of the inventor might have been a factor. Red Rock switched to Frontline Bioenergy’s TarFreeGas® and PMFreeGas® technologies. The press release states that a test was performed on Frontline’s pilot facilities to prove that the technology is adequate for Red Rock’s Lakeview plant. It also says that further verification of the test results is underway.
This also means that the start up of the Lakeview plant is probably 12 months out.
To clarify the discussion point. The syngas mixture, CO and H2, made from biomass or municipal waste, is fed in the VLS reactors to produce Fischer-Tropsch product. This is a complex mixture composed of hydrocarbons (alkanes) with a chain length from C4 to C50. This mixture has to be further refined and here is the point. The FT liquids can be hydrotreated to make diesel or to make SAF. The hydrotreating section is standard petrochemical processing. In VLS case Haldor Topsoe process technology will be used in both projects.
GG: I wonder if your team has considered the timing to bring new technology to the market. VLS' technology in microreactors and catalyst was developed more than ten years ago. Since then, they have folded their catalyst development lab in Abington and let most of their reactor development people go. In other words, during the last 10 years they have tried to commercialize these technologies without developing new ones.
In the mean time, the majors cranked up their efforts to produce SAF. E.g. Chevron acquired the Renewable Energy Group, ExxonMobil develops their own technology (see my earlier post); TotalEnergies has 3 plants operating in France and announced plans to partner with ENEOS in Japan to build a SAF plant; Shell is active as well, partnering and in-house developments; bp is planning to convert their Kwinana refinery in AUstralia to produce SAF using UOP's Ecofining technology.
As I said before, VLS needs to move swiftly if they want to capture part of the SAF market.
Here is a quick answer:
1. VLS leading? No, JM/bp/Davy has one plant in operation - Fulcrum's Sierra plant.
2. Cost? Difficult to know but based on the complexity of the VLS reactor versus the more simple JM reactor, I'd say VLS reactor is more expensive.
3. Key advantages? Ultimately, it will be economics. For now, it will be based on the best sales people...
Shell is moving also in the SAF space: https://www.shell.com/business-customers/aviation/news-and-media-releases/news-and-media-2022/shell-and-lufthansa-group-sign-non-binding-memorandum.html
As I posted on July 1: the big boys are moving in the SAF space...Velocys needs to be more aggressive to hold off that competition.
The timing is determined by the steps which have to completed. Firstly, the FEED has to completed. Secondly, the investors have to come on board to provided the funding - approx 300-400 BP. Thirdly, ground breaking, construction, commissioning and start-up. My guess is as good as anyone else, but 1Q-2027 seems a reasonable estimate to deliver SAF products.
Here is a recent press release which announces ExxonMobil's Methanol to Jet technology:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220620005021/en/ExxonMobil-Methanol-to-Jet-Technology-to-Provide-New-Route-for-Sustainable-Aviation-Fuel-Production
As the big boys are moving in the SAF space, the small boys will have to be very fast and agile to beat the ExxonMobils to the market place. Unfortunately, Velocys has not demonstrate to be fast and agile. Maybe this will give them the push in the back they need.
Fulcrum and Velocys both are using ThermoChem Recovery International's gasification technology. Velocys never developed a gasification technology. Their expertise is the Fischer-Tropsch catalyst and reactor technology.
At the other hand, Fulcrum is indeed at least 4 years ahead of Velocys in terms of having a waste-to-fuels plant in operation.
It looks like Fulcrum produced their first drops of product: https://fulcrum-bioenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/2022-05-24-Sierra-Operations-Press-Release-FINAL.pdf
VP Barrazza mentioned In a recent interview, that Fulcrum Bioenergy's Sierra Biofuels plant will produce its first batch of syncrude in the 2nd quarter of 2022. Here is this plant's timeline: ground breaking in May 2018, construction complete in July 2021, first drop of product May? June? July? of 2022.
Both Velocys' projected plants are similar in size and complexity as the Fulcrum plant. Hopefully they will have their ground breaking ceremony in 2023 so that they will produce their first drop in 2027! In other words, they will need approximately £50 million to keep this organization afloat before a serious revenue stream starts. Next week we will see is this projection is consistent with Velocys' 2021 financials.
"de minimis" is a good choice of words to characterize all Velocys' revenues so far...
Another well-funded competitor...
https://enerkem.com/news-release/enerkem-closes-255-million-financing-round-to-drive-its-growth-and-deployment-of-its-leading-gasification-technology/
Have also a look at their facilities and projects: https://enerkem.com/company/facilities-projects/
Velocys finally gave a long overdue update. That reminds me of the "Velocys Speedread Newsletter" they published years ago. They should publish those updates at least quarterly.
Only JM, Sasol and Shell are public and I am not invested in them.
As long as you know that there are alternative proprietary Fischer Tropsch technologies, such as Johnson Matthey-Davy's, Infra Technology, Emerging Fuels Technology, Greyrock and of course Sasol and Shell...
Strategic Biofuels' Louisiana Green Fuels project moves into FEED. See their press release: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220314005551/en
Paul Schubert, Strategic Biofuels CEO, and former Velocys COO, took at shot at the status of Velocys Bayou Fuels plant when he stated “The transition to FEED is a major achievement for Strategic Biofuels and the industry, as many projects get stuck at the FEL-2 stage and are not able to advance further."
Very interesting move from LanzaTech: going public via a merger. We will be able to monitor Velocys' cpmpetitor much closer than before.
https://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/news/latest-news/2022/03/lanzatech-to-go-public-in-2-2b-spac-deal.html
Nothing much has changed since Davidovich and Tenenbaum are Abramovich's stooges.
Here are the FT plants in operation:
- 5 Natural gas to liquiuds:
- Shell Bintulu
- Pearl - Shell
- Escravos GTL - Sasol
- PetroSA - Sasol technology
- 6 Coal to liquids plants:
- Synfuels China - 3 coal to liquids plants in Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, China
- Sasol has 3 coal to liquids plants in South Africa
- Fulcrum is being commissioned and uses Johnson Matthey reactor and catalyst technology