ConocoPhillips announced today it has signed a $5 million, multiyear sponsored research agreement with the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels, a research center of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory, to develop new ways to convert biomass into low-carbon transportation fuels.
The Collaboratory, a joint venture of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado State University, the Colorado School of Mines and the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, formed the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels, or C2B2, in March 2007, to conduct research at all four institutions. The new collaboration will build on a variety of active research projects being conducted by Colorado scientists and students to develop new sources of transportation biofuels. The first project will involve converting algae into renewable fuel.
"We are pleased to be launching this promising new research effort in conjunction with C2B2," said Stephen Brand, ConocoPhillips senior vice president, Technology. "This agreement with the Collaboratory offers a unique opportunity to combine the technical strengths of the member institutions with ConocoPhillips' spirit of innovation to drive discovery of the next generation of transportation fuels."
"This commitment by ConocoPhillips marks the first multiyear sponsored research project for C2B2 and is another milestone in our drive to make Colorado the nation's renewable energy capital," said David Hiller, executive director of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory. "We look forward to working with ConocoPhillips to create new forms of clean energy."
"Even without climate change as an issue, fossil fuels are nonrenewable," said Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. "For ConocoPhillips to partner with us to convert biomass to transportation fuels fits nicely with how we think about the new energy economy in the state."
Headquartered at CU-Boulder, C2B2 was founded in March 2007 by the Collaboratory to increase the production and use of energy from renewable resources and has several dozen industrial co-venturers. The Collaboratory established a second center in April of this year, the Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion, or CRSP, to convert solar energy to low-cost electricity and fuels. ConocoPhillips plans to construct a technology research facility and corporate learning center in Louisville, Colo., which is expected to open in 2012.
ConocoPhillips is an international, integrated energy company with interests around the world. For more information, visit www.conocophillips.com.
For more information on the Collaboratory visit the Web at www.coloradocollaboratory.org/. For more information on C2B2 visit the Web at www.C2B2web.org, or contact C2B2 Coordinator Frannie Ray-Earle at C2B2@colorado.edu.