Chesapeake invests $155M in Sundrop Biofuels

July 13, 2011 |

In Colorado, Sundrop Biofuels has received $175 million in investment, $155 million of which has come from Chesapeake Energy accounting for a 50% stake in the company.

It is one of the first investments to come from Chesapeake’s new $1 billion investment facility it will undertake with its new company Chesapeake NG Ventures Corp during the next 10 years. The remaining investment comes from Sundrop’s existing investor Oak Investment Partners.

More about Sundrop Fuels.

Late last year, one of the most interesting biofuels propositions in quite some time, Sundrop Fuels, emerged from stealth mode.

Sundrop Fuels was originally a solar gasification-based renewable energy company. Since emergin from stealth mode last year, plans have changed.

“As you know, Sundrop Fuels did indeed begin as a “solar fuels” company, but over the last year or so that model has changed,” the project’s Steve Silvers told the Digest in July. “The biomass to advanced drop-in biofuels process uses natural gas to power the RP Reactor. The economics of the business made considerably more sense if we could run the thermochemical plant 24 hours a day – hence natural gas, rather than solar.

According to Silvers, “We already had to have natural gas coming into the facility because we’re stealing the hydrogen from natural gas to add to the biomass being gasified as to create the fuel-ready 2-to-1 hydrogen to carbon ratio. Additionally, like other biofuels companies, we are benefiting from the strategic partnership of a large energy company.”

Category: Fuels

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