Swiss Foster Wheeler gets good results from initial test of Petroalgae's biomass

(ADPnews) - Sep 29, 2010 - Swiss engineering group Foster Wheeler (NASDAQ:FWLT) announced today satisfactory results from the initial testing of the biomass produced at the micro-crop farm of US biofuel technology firm Petroalgae (OTC:PALG) in the US.

Foster Wheeler and Petroalgae are working together on the development of a new process -- a combination between Petroalgae's biomass production system and Foster Wheeler's delayed coking technology to enable the delayed coker to mix biomass into the coker feedstock, with minimal configuration changes to an existing unit.

The company said that the biomass, which is being tested as a delayed coker feedstock additive to provide renewable biofuels, is carbon neutral and is suitable for commercial production.

Testing was aimed at proving that the biomass is an effective supplement to vacuum residue coker feedstock, and does not affect overall coker operations considerably. The results show that the mix of biomass and petroleum vacuum residue, "yields additional valuable hydrocarbons as a result of biomass carbohydrate and lipid decomposition", Foster Wheeler added.

The company will continue testing and engineering development to optimize process parameters and feedstock ratios.

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