PureVision Begins Pilot Plant Construction at New Lab
June 12, 2007Fort Lupton, Colorado: PureVision Technology, Inc., a leader in developing cellulosic biorefining technologies, has begun constructing a new pilot plant at their Fort Lupton, Colorado facility. The experimental biomass processing equipment is the next generation of the unique fractionation technology being developed by the Colorado-based company. The PureVision technology rapidly converts cellulosic biomass into industrial raw materials used for making a myriad of products including ethanol and other bio-products.
This novel technology uses abundant and renewable cellulosic biomass feedstocks such as corn stalks, straws, wood, grasses and sugar cane residue (bagasse) to produce high-value industrial bio-products. Since 2003, PureVision has been using a continuous, small-scale process development unit (PDU) with a throughput of about 200 pounds per day of biomass. The PDU has been used to process different cellulosic feedstocks and to demonstrate the fractionation process. Having successfully proven the benefits of the patented PureVision biomass conversion process, the company is constructing a larger pilot plant with a throughput of about 3 tons per day of biomass.
Construction of the new prototype is being undertaken at PureVision Technology, Inc.’s Fort Lupton headquarters and laboratory. “We’ve begun construction by developing a new feeder system for the prototype,” stated staff engineer and inventor Paul Ludwig. “People don’t appreciate all the nuances of being able to economically convert biomass into useful products. We discovered that it was necessary to develop our own biomass feeder system for our specialized equipment to operate efficiently. To accomplish this we designed, engineered and built a new feeder system. We expect to use it on different biomass feedstocks we are evaluating including corn stover, sugar cane residues and wood.” he said.
Ludwig, a seasoned mechanical engineer, joined PureVision during 2006 to head up the company’s technology scale-up effort.
While he has been developing the next generation PureVision equipment, most of the company’s technical staff has been involved in on-going biomass processing evaluations at the Golden, Colorado research facility located at the Hazen Research, Inc.’s industrial campus. In addition to the engineers that operate the company’s PDU, PureVision technical staff is involved in technical and economic evaluations of different biomass feedstocks.
”We are in a transition period,” stated Ed Lehrburger, PureVision president and CEO. “While we continue to use our reliable process development unit to research how best to convert straws, agriculture residues and wood into valuable resources, we are developing larger equipment needed to demonstrate the economics of our process. The pilot plant, now under construction, will allow us to develop the designs and costing for larger, commercial-scale equipment.” he said.
Lehrburger noted that it will likely take until the first half of 2008 to complete the construction of the 3-ton-per-day pilot plant. Data generated will provide design specifications to scale up the PureVision equipment to a 100-ton-per-day commercial demonstration cellulose biorefinery, slated to break ground in 2009.
PureVision plans to commercialize its biorefining technology, first to convert agricultural residues such as corn stalks into ethanol, and once commercially operational, to apply the technology to other cellulosic feedstocks and industrial bio-product applications.
Contact:
Ed Lehrburger, President & CEO, PureVision Technology, Inc. (303) 857-4530