Fluor Corporation announced the firm was awarded a contract by Rentech, Inc. to provide front-end engineering and design (FEED) services for the Rialto Renewable Energy Center (Rialto Project) located 50 miles east of Los Angeles. Fluor will book the undisclosed contract value in the second quarter of 2010.
Under the agreement, Fluor will perform FEED services for the facility and the project's supporting infrastructure. The Rialto Project, which will use green urban waste as feedstock, is expected to be the first commercial biomass gasification facility in the United States that will co-produce renewable electric power and synthetic diesel fuel.
"We are taking a leading role in the renewables energy space by assisting Rentech with this unique clean-fuel and power biomass project," said Dave Dunning, president of Fluor's Power Group. "We hope to assist Rentech to further develop this renewable energy project and take it from the design stage to reality."
"We are very pleased that a firm of Fluor's stature was our leading bidder and will be our FEED partner for our Rialto renewable energy project. Fluor's experience and expertise in gasification and Fischer-Tropsch projects will help us move quickly and efficiently through the design stage for what we expect to be the country's first commercial-scale renewable synthetic fuels and power facility," said D. Hunt Ramsbottom, president and CEO of Rentech.
The Rialto Project is designed to produce about 35 megawatts of base-load renewable electricity (enough energy to power approximately 30,000 homes) and 640 barrels-per-day of renewable, ultra-clean synthetic fuels from urban woody green waste, such as yard and tree trimmings. The life-cycle carbon footprint of the fuels and power is expected to be near zero, and the renewable power (RenPowerTM) meets the requirements of California's Renewable Portfolio Standard.
Fluor has executed more than 20 gasification projects globally and performed more than 150 gasification feasibility studies. In addition, Fluor has helped develop the major Fischer-Tropsch plants in operation today.