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David van den Berg
The Arizona Republic
Feb. 4, 2008 09:36 AM
A Gilbert-based alternative energy business is competing for a Defense Department grant to develop a process to convert algae oil into jet fuel.
If Diversified Energy Corp. wins the grant, it would the largest the Gilbert company has received, said Philip Brown, president and chief executive officer.
Brown couldn't provide a specific dollar amount of the project, but said it would require Diversified to add employees.
Brown said he expects Diversified, which is working with a Phoenix company, will be competing with large corporations already involved in the energy industry.
"Competition for this proposal is going to be enormous," he said.
Diversified is working on an algae production system now.
A lab scale demonstration is growing algae at Diversified offices in Gilbert, while a field demonstration up and running at Withrow Dairy in Casa Grande.
Algae production is just one technology Diversified is working on. The company has shown through testing that HydroMax, a gasification technology, will work.
Diversified conducted the testing in Pittsburgh with Pittsburgh Mineral and Environmental Technologies, Brown said.
Researchers tested the HydroMax gasification process using coal and converting it into carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
HydroMax converts carbon feed stocks such as biomass into a usable gas, which can be used to run heating equipment for industrial facilities, make liquid transportation fuels and other substances.
Forest clearings and wood shavings are types of biomass.
"This is a key milestone for us," Brown said. "It gives us a springboard to take the technology to the next level."
The next step is to construct a pilot-sized HydroMax reactor, which will be about a third the size of a full-sized commercial reactor.
Diversified has received a contract from California to construct that plant in Eureka, Calif.
That contract, valued at $500,000, is the largest the company has ever received, Brown said.
Construction on the pilot plant should start this fall or winter.
Diversified has invested money in HydroMax, which Alchemix Corp, a Carefree-based firm, developed.