JM and bp’s innovative FT CANS technology successfully produces product for Fulcrum’s Sierra waste-to-fuels plant

Johnson Matthey (JM), a global leader in sustainable technologies, and bp, an international energy company, today announce that their technology has enabled Fulcrum’s Sierra BioFuels Plant to successfully produce synthetic crude oil for clean transportation fuels.  

Using JM and bp’s FT CANS™ technology, the Sierra plant is the world's first commercial-scale plant to use household rubbish as a feedstock which would otherwise be destined for landfill. 

Located outside of Reno, Nevada, it uses JM and bp's FT CANS technology to convert synthesis gas, produced from waste, into synthetic crude oil which can then be converted to fuels.

The plant will produce synthetic crude oil, which is expected to ultimately be refined to approximately 11 million gallons of renewable, low-carbon transportation fuels each year from approximately 175,000 tons of landfill waste .

JM and bp signed their first licence with waste-to-fuels developer Fulcrum to use their award-winning FT CANS technology in 2018 .

Alberto Giovanzana, Chief Commercial Officer of Catalyst Technologies at Johnson Matthey, said: “We’ve worked in partnership with bp, creating deep technology insights for more than a decade. This close collaboration has led to the significant milestone we’re seeing today. The ability to convert household waste into low-cost, low carbon transportation fuel is truly innovative and is a crucial step in decarbonising transport.” 

Noemie Turner, VP technology development & commercialisation at bp, added: “We’re excited that commercial-scale use of our Fischer Tropsch technology built on a foundation of top-class research and development, in collaboration with our technology partner, Johnson Matthey could help support the decarbonization of the transport sector.”

JM and bp have been developing FT technology together over a number of years and have collaborated over the past decade to accelerate this latest enhanced technology.