Partnership with Clariant to advance ExxonMobil, REG research on waste-based biofuel

A new partnership between ExxonMobil, Renewable Energy Group (REG) and Clariant seeks to evolve an alternate source of biofuel, converting things like agricultural waste and residues into cellulosic biodiesel.

While ExxonMobil and REG have already proven sugars could be converted into biodiesel in a single step, the addition of Clariant speaks to refinement and optimization of the process. Clariant has previously created compatible cellulosic sugars through its sunliquid technology, which utilizes chemical-free pretreatment, integrated production of feedstock and high yields of fermentable sugars.

Now, all three entities desire to see these processes combined into a single, integrated biomass-to-biodiesel technology.

“Over the past three years, our work with REG has led to important advances in genetically improving REG’s proprietary microbes for a beneficial use in facilitating the conversion of cellulosic sugars into biodiesel,” Vijay Swarup, vice president of research and development at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company, said. “Applying Clariant’s expertise and knowledge will help us better understand and advance a key stage in the overall cellulosic conversion process, and hopefully lead to the development of scalable biodiesel technology.”

Clariant will be in charge of trials, which will be conducted at its pre-commercial plant in Germany. Various feedstock will be transformed into sugars for further conversion by REG and ExxonMobil into low-carbon biodiesel. A conceptual engineering study is also being worked on to investigate the actual feasibility of combining the technologies of all three companies into one.