Mercurius Australia

Mercurius Australia Pty Ltd, an Australian subsidiary of Mercurius Biorefining Inc., has received funding from the Department of State Development to validate their biorefining technology in Queensland based on sugarcane bagasse feedstocks.

The Mercurius Biorefinery Process is based on a novel Renewable Acid-hydrolysis Condensation Hydrotreating (REACH™) technology which bypasses sugars and can produce drop-in hydrocarbons and green chemicals from low value lignocellulosic biomass such as sugarcane bagasse. The REACH technology consists of three main steps involving:

• Acid hydrolysis of biomass to non-sugar intermediates in high yields;
• Condensation of the intermediates to increase carbon chain length of the products as precursors to jet fuel and diesel products; and
• Hydrotreating to deoxygenate the intermediates. The final fuel products are a drop-in blend ready for use in the general liquid fuels market.

The key aim of the Mercurius Validation project is to demonstrate the REACH process at laboratory scale to identify key aspects that might influence the commercial feasibility of the Mercurius Biorefinery concept. Optimizations and integration of processing steps are a key focus of the project being undertaken by QUT. Additionally QUT are supplying biocrude products to the Northern Oil Advanced Biofuels Laboratory for bench scale hydrotreating and fuel testing. QUT will also assist in the preparation of a feasibility evaluation and technoeconomic assessment for a subsequent pilot plant project to process 100 kg/day of biomass.

This project receives funding from the Biofutures Acceleration Program through the Department of State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning.