Alder Renewables says its integrated pilot plant has run for more than 1,000 hours without stopping. The San Antonio company reports that the run produced on-spec Alder Renewable Crude (ARC) throughout.
ARC is a biocrude made from woody biomass pyrolysis oil. Pyrolysis oil comes from heating biomass with little or no oxygen. Alder used commercially produced oil from forest residues as its feedstock.
The company says its process runs at low temperature. It needs little electricity. It also does not require hydrogen at the biomass processing site. The resulting biocrude can be transported, so it can link forestry regions with existing refining infrastructure. Downstream uses include fuels, chemicals and advanced carbon materials.
Alder says the campaign showed the process can run continuously while keeping product quality consistent. The operating data now feed into equipment design, process controls and operating parameters for larger scale. The company has completed initial engineering for a modular commercial unit.
Next comes a planned market demonstration unit. It would make larger volumes of ARC for customer qualification. It would also produce more operating data to support commercial engineering and investment decisions. Alder is pursuing federal and strategic funding for this stage.
Alder works with AE Bioénergie Côte-Nord, which operates what Alder calls the largest woody biomass pyrolysis plant in North America. The two firms, with support from Boeing, formed a joint venture called ARC-Bio. It is evaluating commercial opportunities in forestry regions with plentiful residual biomass and existing industrial infrastructure.
