US- based Joule Unlimited has signed a lease agreement providing access to 1,200 acres in Lea County in the US, for production of renewable diesel and ethanol directly from sunlight and waste CO2.
The project would be scaled up-to 5,000 acres in future, said the company which can receive $19m in state incentives to facilitate operations at commercial scale.
Joule’s Helioculture platform produces infrastructure-ready diesel and ethanol directly and continuously from sunlight and waste CO2, with no dependence on arable land or fresh water.
Joule’s production facilities will employ the company’s novel SolarConverter system, which manages the direct, continuous process from photon capture to product synthesis and separation with efficiencies that are up to 50X greater than those of biomass-dependent processes.
At full-scale production, Joule expects to deliver diesel and ethanol for as little as $20/bble and $0.60/gallon respectively, including current subsidies.