Joule will use the SunSprings plant to produce Sunflow-E ethanol, which is derived from sunlight and industrial waste CO2.
Joule’s long-term plan is to establish a commercial SunSprings plant in Hobbs with an annual production of 25,000 gallons of Sunflow-E per acre. It has access to an additional 1,200 acres of land for the purpose.
The plant is said to reduce land and capital investment that algae-derived or agricultural biofuels require.
Using the new technology, solar energy is directly converted to liquid fuels without the need of raw materials, pretreatment or downstream processing. Optimized microorganisms used in the plant act as living catalysts to produce fuel.
Joule president and CEO William Sims said that the project combined various technologies to develop a commercial-ready system and engineering a scalable process that have been pilot-tested and are ready for deployment.
"In contrast, we’ve built a low-cost solution that emulates large-scale results and commercial-scale economics without the need for hundreds of acres or hundreds of millions of dollars.
"With just one module, we will show what’s possible with 100 modules or more – a low-risk, high-return equation with near-term commercial impact," he said
