PureVision Technology Announces $1 Million Biomass Grant
June 30, 2006Fort Lupton , CO : PureVision Technology, Inc., a leader in developing biorefining technologies, announced today the formal signing of a $990,000 financial assistance award with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The grant is a continuation of the $1,860,000 2005 Biomass Program partially funded by DOE and will enable PureVision to continue optimizing its biorefinery technology using corn stover.
Corn stover is the residue after the kernels are harvested and includes the leaves, stalks and cob of the corn plant. Unlike traditional ethanol production, which uses the corn kernels to produce ethanol, the PureVision process is expected to convert diverse agricultural residues into ethanol and other industrial products.
The nine-month continuation program funded by DOE is managed by PureVision and includes 11 subcontractors. The goal of the program is to complete corn stover processing using the PureVision small laboratory-scale fractionation reactor and to complete process and economic modeling of the PureVision technology to convert biomass into product streams. Once the PureVision team completes corn stover processing tasks, PureVision plans to begin processing sugar cane residues (referred to as bagasse) and finalize the preliminary design specifications for a larger 2-3-ton per day-prototype fractionation reactor.
The following is a listing of PureVision subcontractors and strategic partners participating in the 2006 Biomass program:
ENTEK Extruders, Inc. (Lebanon, OR)
Harris Group, Inc. (Seattle, WA)
Hazen Research, Inc. (Golden, CO)
Membrane Applied Science & Technology, University of Colorado (Boulder CO)
M.A. Patout & Sons, Ltd ( Raceland, LA)
Pulp & Paper Research & Education center (PPREC, Auburn University, AL)
Department of Metallurgical Engineering, University of Utah (Salt Lake, UT)
Katzen International, Inc. (Cincinnati, OH)
Raphael Katzen, P.E., consultant
Weyerhaeuser Company ( Federal Way, WA)
PPG Industries (PPG, Allison Park, PA)
PureVision's patented biorefinery technology fractionates or separates cellulosic biomass into its three major components – cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. This clean, novel technology differs from all competing technologies in the world today by producing a pure cellulose product stream and two liquid streams containing hemicellulosic sugars and unique lignin product in a patented biorefining process. PureVision’s fractionation technique is on track to become the core technology for large industrial cellulosic biorefineries, which will convert abundant and diverse biomass into bio-based products in the future. Analogous to oil refineries, biorefineries convert biomass into sugars and other co-products for use in the production of ethanol, bio-plastics, pulp and paper products, lubricants, sealers and many other industrial products.