Chevron Corp. and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have announced that they have entered into a collaborative research and development agreement to study and advance technology to produce liquid transportation fuels using algae. Chevron and NREL scientists will collaborate to identify and develop algae strains that can be economically harvested and processed into finished transportation fuels such as jet fuel. Chevron Technology Ventures, a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., will fund the initiative. The research project announced is the second under a five-year strategic biofuels research alliance between Chevron and NREL announced in October 2006. The first involves bio-oil reforming, a process by which bio-oils derived from the decomposition of biological feedstocks are then converted into hydrogen and biofuels.
