Honeywell's UOP Awarded Funding for Carbon Dioxide Capture and Reuse Through Algae Growth and Biofuel Production

DES PLAINES, Ill., March 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- UOP, a Honeywell (NYSE: HON) company, announced today that it has been awarded a $1.5 million cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project to demonstrate technology to capture carbon dioxide and produce algae for use in biofuel and energy production.

The funding will be used for the design of a demonstration system that will capture carbon dioxide from exhaust stacks at Honeywell's manufacturing facility in Hopewell, Va., and deliver the captured CO2 to a cultivation system for algae.

Algal oil can then be extracted from the algae for conversion to biofuels, and the algae residual can be converted to pyrolysis oil, which can be burned to generate renewable electricity.

The project, managed by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, will realize further environmental benefit because wastewater from the manufacturing facility will be used in the algae cultivation system, allowing the algae to consume nitrogen in the wastewater.

"This project will demonstrate integrated concepts and technologies that can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions while showing the viability of new sources of energy," said Jennifer Holmgren, vice president and general manager of UOP's Renewable Energy and Chemicals unit, which develops and licenses process technology for the production of biofuels. "Integrated approaches such as these are our best hopes for creating economically sustainable renewable energy solutions."

At the demonstration site, UOP will design cost-effective and efficient equipment to capture CO2 from the exhaust stacks of the Hopewell caprolactam facility and deliver it in a controlled and efficient process to a pond near the plant, where algae will be grown using automated control systems from Honeywell Process Solutions and technology developed by Aquaflow Bionomic Corp.  

This project supports ongoing development efforts from Honeywell's UOP for a range of process technologies to capture carbon dioxide and produce green fuels and chemicals. UOP has already commercialized the UOP/Eni Ecofining™ process to produce Honeywell Green Diesel™ fuel from biological feedstocks, including algae and demonstrated process technology to produce Honeywell Green Jet™ fuel.

The project will also support the independent evaluation of the use of RTP® rapid thermal processing technology from Envergent Technologies, a joint venture between UOP and Ensyn Corp. The RTP system can be used to convert waste biomass from the algae production into pyrolysis oil, which can be burned to generate renewable electricity.

Honeywell's Hopewell site produces caprolactam, a material used in the production of nylon, as well as ammonium sulfate, a fertilizer.

Evan Van Hook, vice president of environment, health and safety for Honeywell, said, "The choice of the Hopewell site – both to capture CO2 emissions and to use the facility's wastewater – is part of Honeywell's continuous efforts to improve the efficiency and sustainability of business operations around the world."

UOP LLC, headquartered in Des Plaines, Illinois, USA, is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, process plants, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. UOP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc. and is part of Honeywell's Specialty Materials strategic business group. For more information, go to www.uop.com.

Honeywell International (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; and specialty materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York, London, and Chicago Stock Exchanges. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywellnow.com.

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SOURCE UOP, a Honeywell company