Disastrous results from the FCC pilot test
With De Deken gone, the Pilot Plant testing work at KBR was supervised by Peter Loezos and Robert Bartek, and testing started the first week of October. The results of the tests were reported on Nov. 20, 2008 by Peter Loezos in an email entitled ‘KBR Mass Balances’.
“Overall, the oil yields in the KBR results were much lower than those reported in the ITQ Report from the Valencia R&D group,” a staffer recalled, “where they used in their tests the same biomass and pretreated biomass, as well as the same catalyst.”
An analysis and report of the tests at KBR was issued on Nov. 20, 2008 by KiOR Science Director Dr. Conrad Zhang confirmed the low yields in a report entitled ‘Summary of analytical results from test results reported on November 3rd, 11th, and 14th. The yields have been described as “never above 30 gallons per bone dry ton of biomass” in terms of gallons per ton by those familiar with the results.
The story continues
We explore what happened with KiOR and those “never above 30 gallons’ yields, in Part 2 of our story, here.
Further reading
The O’Connor resignation letter
The March 15 2012 O’Connor email memo
The March 22 2012 O’Connor technology assessment
The April 21 2012 O’Connor technology assessment
The April 30 2012 O’Connor memo
The Spring 2013 O’Connor note
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