據烴加工網站7月23日報道 New Energy Blue計劃在愛荷華州建設一個生物質煉油廠，旨在生產可再生的碳負汽車燃料，取代汽油。

　　首席執行官托馬斯·科勒表示：“我們在愛荷華州的項目每年可以防止100萬噸二氧化碳進入大氣層（類似減少陸上20萬輛汽車）。預計未來的煉油廠規模將是第一家煉油廠的兩倍。”

　　該公司正在愛荷華州梅森市附近一個占地155英畝的地方開發New Energy Freedom生物質煉油廠。27.5萬噸農作物殘渣（玉米秸稈和麥秸）將在當地采購，然后轉化為2000萬加侖纖維素乙醇和95噸木質素，這是一種固體生物燃料和天然粘合劑。溫室氣體減少的一半來自于替代石油產品，另一半來自于通過最佳耕作方法隔離土壤碳。

　　“我們的纖維素燃料可以超過加州的低碳燃料標準政策和嚴格的空氣質量要求，其他國家繼續采取類似政策，推動全球對碳負交通燃料的需求不斷增長。”

　　馬斯·科勒表示：“預計該煉油廠的木質素需求也將強勁。采用清潔工藝生產，可代替油瀝青作為瀝青的粘結劑，一種更環保的道路鋪設和屋頂。”

　　New Energy Freedom是美國最早的負碳煉油廠之一，也是丹麥以外首次大規模使用Inbicon生物轉化技術。New Energy Blue團隊是這項技術發展的副產品，該公司于2019年從奧斯特購買了煉油廠特許經營權和擴建權。Freedom的資本支出約為2億美元，與Inbicon 15年發展的投資金額大致相同。奧斯特建立并運營了一個示范煉油廠五年，向丹麥加油站供應2G乙醇。

　　New Energy Blue已經完成了圍繞幾種不同原料的工藝設計，目前正在完成明年在愛荷華州建設的現場具體設計，該公司計劃在未來6年內再建設4個生物質煉油廠。

　　王磊 摘譯自 烴加工

　　原文如下：

　　New Energy Freedom refinery to produce carbon-negative fuel

　　New Energy Blue planned construction in Iowa of a biomass refinery designed to produce renewable carbon-negative automotive fuel, which replaces gasoline.

　　"Our Iowa project can keep one million tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere every year–like taking 200,000 cars off the road," says Thomas Corle, CEO. "Future refineries are expected to be twice the size of the first."

　　The company is developing New Energy Freedom biomass refinery on a 155-acre site near Mason City, Iowa. 275,000 tons of crop residue (cornstalks and wheat straw) will be locally sourced, then converted into 20 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol and 95 tons of lignin, a solid biofuel and natural binder. Half the greenhouse-gas reduction comes from replacing petroleum products, the other half from sequestering soil carbons through best farming practices.

　　"Our cellulosic fuel can exceed California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard policy and its rigorous air quality requirements," says Corle. "Other states continue to adopt similar policies, which drive the growing global demand for carbon-negative transportation fuels."

　　Strong demand is also expected for the refinery's lignin. Produced by a clean process, it can replace oil-derived bitumen as the binder in asphalt. "A greener way to pave roads and shingle roofs," Corle says.

　　Besides being one of America's first carbon-negative refineries, New Energy Freedom represents the first large-scale use of Inbicon bioconversion technology outside of Denmark. New Energy Blue's team is a spin-off of the technology's development. The company purchased exclusive rights to license and build-out refineries from ?rsted in 2019. Freedom's CapEx is about $200 million, about the same amount invested in Inbicon's 15-year development. ?rsted built and operated a demonstration refinery for five years, supplying 2G ethanol to Danish petrol stations.

　　New Energy Blue has completed process engineering around several different feedstocks and is now completing a site-specific design for construction next year in Iowa. The company plans to build four more biomass refineries over the next 6 years.