As per the agreement, Fluor will provide EPCM services for the designing and construction of Cobalt’s upcoming demonstration and commercial-scale butanol production plants.
Cobalt’s butanol production system, which is based on advancements in microbial strain selection, bioreactor design and process engineering, converts non-food feedstock, such as forest waste and mill residues, into biobutanol.
This engineering foundation has been designed to scale up the production process quickly while maintaining capital efficiency in addition to reducing lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90% versus the production of gasoline.
John Hopkins, group executive of business development at Fluor, said: “We have examined many different biofuels technologies, and are choosing to work with those companies that we believe have the greatest potential to be commercialized economically and to make a major impact on achievement of the nation’s alternative fuels goals.
“We believe Cobalt’s technology has great potential and are looking forward to helping them scale up rapidly.”
