BIOFUELS: Washington-Based Company to Develop Advanced Biofuels for Military Jets

Ferndale’s Mercurius Biofuels will begin development of an innovative pilot-scale biorefinery

(Washington D.C.) – Today, Tuesday, April 23^rd, 2013, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), applauded an announcement by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that Ferndale’s Mercurius Biofuels will receive a $4.6 million grant to develop an innovative pilot-scale biorefinery that will test renewable biofuels as a domestic alternative to power our cars, trucks, and planes that meet military specifications for jet fuel. This project builds on the Administration’s broader efforts to advance biofuels technologies to continue to bring down costs, improve performance and identify effective, non-food feedstocks and processing techniques.

“Creating a biofuels industry that will mean jobs for our state and energy independence for our nation requires us to bring innovators together, and this critical investment will continue that process,”  said Senator Murray.  “Ensuring that our military has the flexibility in fuel sources it needs is critical to maintaining strategic capabilities in the 21^st century.”

The Mercurius Biofuels project is part of an $18 million investment by the DOE for four projects across the country that will demonstrate technologies to cost-effectively convert biomass into advanced drop-in biofuels and assist these organizations to scale up the processes to commercial levels.

In July of 2011, Senator Murray sent a letter to DOE then-Acting Assistant Secretary Dr. Henry Kelly expressing her support for Mercurius Biofuels.