ZeaChem to ‘shake down’ as it starts construction on first biorefinery

Lakewood, Colo.-based ZeaChem said today it started construction on its first cellulosic biorefinery, a semi-works scale facility, being located in Boardman, Ore.

“When you think about a company in this space, you do things in your lab and a pilot plant, and eventually you need to do a real test,” ZeaChem’s CEO Jim Imbler told the Cleantech Group.

ZeaChem—which is developing biorefineries to convert renewable biomass into fuels and chemicals—was originally scheduled to start construction this summer and have some processes up and running by the end of the first quarter of 2010 (see ZeaChem starts work on first biorefinery).

But Imbler said the schedule has been revised, and the plant is to have a smaller capacity than the 1.5 million gallons per year that was originally planned. The company still intends to scale to a commercial biorefinery after successful operations at the semi-works scale facility. The core technology of the facility is expected to come online at the end of 2010.

“We are using all known processes, and that takes a lot of the scaling risk out,” Imbler said.

Imbler said the company will be fermenting in 2009, which is earlier than planned. The facility is expected to have the capacity to produce 250,000 gallons of advanced biofuel per year as well as bio-based chemicals.

Imbler said ZeaChem is working with Hazen Research, of Golden, Colo., to construct the first step of the biorefinery fermentation process. He said this is allowing ZeaChem to accelerate its process.

“By getting the fermentation process proven out, that really helps with our strategic partners,” Imbler said. “That’s where they’ve had more of a concern.”

Such strategic partners include petroleum refiner Valero Energy (NYSE:VLO), and other undisclosed chemical companies.

While ZeaChem is using a robust organism, Imbler said it hasn’t been done at industrial scales, though it’s considered an industrial organism.

The front-end fermentation unit scales production of naturally occurring bacteria, called acetogen, used by ZeaChem in its fermentation process. Unlike yeast, acetogens don’t produce carbon dioxide during the fermentation process, which ZeaChem said offers efficiency and yield advantage.

ZeaChem has produced acetogens in the lab for more than 1,000 fermentation trials of sugars as well as hydrolyzate derived from cellulosic biomass. Imbler said the company has met and exceeded fermentation of 50 grams per liter.

“We expected to prove that out at the larger scale,” he said.

Imbler said ZeaChem is working with Hazen Research in a contract capacity because it has the utilities, manpower, and technical resources to assist his company, as well as experience with semi-works scale facilities.

The industrial research and development firm has also worked with companies, to prove their technologies, such as Glendale, Ariz.-based CarbonTech, which is developing a way to process shredder residue and municipal solid waste for other purposes (see CarbonTech putting car shreds, municipal waste to new use).

Hazen Research is expected to construct and host the initial process unit and provide infrastructure and operations support, Imbler said.

The biorefinery is being constructed with a skid mounted design, which allows individual process units to be built more quickly in fabrication shops. The skids act like modular building blocks, with each one being about size of a cargo shipping container.

“We’ll move the skids to Hazen first, shake them down, and then move them out to Boardman for the ultimate construction,” Imbler said.

The skid mounted design allows for optimization of operations earlier in the process, and the ability to bolt on and phase in additional skids as the biorefinery grows. Imbler said it also helps to take a level of risk out of the testing process.

The Boardman site is near GreenWood Resources poplar tree farm, which is expected to supply the feedstock for the plant. ZeaChem plans to co-locate future plants next to feedstock to reduce transportation cost and resources.

Declining to reveal the cost of the plant, Imbler said it was funded as part of the company’s $34 million round from Globespan Capital Partners, PrairieGold Venture Partners, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Firelake Capital and Valero Energy (see New year money goes to biofuels). The company previously raised $4 million (see Please sir, may I have some Mohr?).

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