Industria e Innovazione and Envergent have signed an agreement to pursue development of an RTP facility to convert a mix of pine forest residues and clean demolition wood into pyrolysis oil, a liquid biofuel. The facility will be designed to process around 150 bone-dry metric tons per day of biomass to pyrolysis oil for the generation of renewable electricity.

Envergent will provide engineering for the facility which is projected for start-up in 2012. “This project marks an important milestone for renewable power generation in Europe,” said Mark Reno, managing director of Envergent Technologies. “A unit at Industria e Innovazione would represent a new energy option for the region that would utilize readily-available biomass residuals while offering a reduced carbon footprint.”

“Compared to traditional biomass combustion technologies, RTP offers several advantages, including improved efficiency in power production, lower costs and a lower environmental impact,” said Federico Caporale, CEO of Industria e Innovazione.

The RTP process works by rapidly heating biomass such as wood chips or straw at ambient pressure to generate high yields of pourable, liquid pyrolysis oil. This oil can then be burned for energy in industrial burners and furnaces for heat or used to generate electricity. Envergent Technologies is also focused on development and commercialization of technology to further refine pyrolysis oil into renewable transportation fuels like green gasoline, green diesel and green jet fuel, and plans to have the technology available for license by 2012.