Posted July 13, 2009, at 12:04 p.m. CST

Envergent Technologies LLC, a Honeywell company, announced today that pyrolysis oil produced using its Rapid Thermal Processing technology meets American Society for Testing and Materials standards for biofuels used in industrial burners.

The ASTM standard ensures that pyrolysis oil, a liquid biofuel made from biomass such as wood chips or straw, maintains the highest levels of quality, reliability and performance when used as a fuel in industrial burners for the generation of renewable heat and power.

"The establishment of an ASTM standard is a critical step toward the supply of high-quality, next-generation pyrolysis oil to customers as a commodity fuel," said Envergent Technologies Managing Director Mark Reno. "Our focus is to establish the best pathway for the conversion of biomass into valuable renewable fuels for power, heating and transportation."

The standard contains specifications for solids, water content, flash point, pour point, gross heat of combustion, viscosity, density, sulfur and ash content. The standard is expected to be published in August 2009.

Envergent Technologies leverages more than 25 years of pyrolysis technology experience from Ensyn Corp. and nearly 100 years of refining and process technology development from UOP. It offers RTP, a proven fast pyrolysis process to convert biomass into pyrolysis oil for the generation of renewable power and heating. RTP is already in use in seven commercial biomass processing plants in the U.S. and Canada. 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.

SOURCE: ENVERGENT TECHNOLOGIES