Sundrop Fuels

About Sundrop Fuels

Sundrop Fuels, established in 2008, was a privately-held advanced biofuels company headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, with ambitions to become a mass-scale producer of renewable, drop-in biofuels. The company was founded through a $20 million investment from venture capital firms Oak Investment Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Its initial strategy was built on the acquisition of Los Alamos Renewable Energy and Copernican Energy, focusing on high-temperature biomass-to-gas conversion systems.

The company's business model centered on producing 'green gasoline' from woody biomass, such as forest waste, combined with natural gas. This process was designed to create a drop-in biofuel compatible with existing transportation infrastructure. A pivotal moment in Sundrop's history was the significant strategic partnership with Chesapeake Energy Corp., which invested $155 million in 2011, with existing investor Oak Investment Partners adding another $20 million. This partnership provided not only critical funding but also a steady supply of natural gas and enhanced credibility.

Sundrop's core technology was its proprietary RP Reactor, which utilized an ultra-high-temperature radiant particle heat transfer process to gasify biomass almost instantly at temperatures up to 1,300 degrees Celsius. By integrating hydrogen-rich natural gas, the process aimed to overcome the low hydrogen content typical in biomass, thereby maximizing the fuel yield. The resulting synthesis gas was then to be converted into transportation fuels using a methanol-to-gasoline (MTG) process licensed from ExxonMobil. Originally, the plan involved using concentrated solar power, but this was later replaced by natural gas due to cost and logistical constraints.

The company's primary milestone was the planned construction of a $450-$500 million commercial demonstration facility in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. This inaugural plant was intended to produce 40-50 million gallons of biofuel annually, serving as a proof-of-concept for the technology before scaling up to larger 'megaplants'. The long-term vision was to produce over one billion gallons of fuel per year by 2020. However, despite forming partnerships with engineering firms like ThyssenKrupp Uhde and IHI E&C for the plant's design and construction, the Louisiana project did not come to fruition, and the company has since become inactive.