World?s First Commercial SunFuel Development

[The Sheriff of Nottingham 0]

Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH has acquired a minority equity stake in Choren Industries GmbH, Freiberg/Saxony. Shell?s commitment sets the stage for construction of the world?s first commercial facility to convert biomass into high-quality synthetic bio-fuel, already marketed by Choren as SunFuel. A 15,000 t/a plant is planned for the production of SunFuel. SunFuel is supported by carmakers such as Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler because it can be used without modification in any diesel engine without compromising performance and with a substantial reduction in harmful emissions. Shell?s stake in Choren is still subject to approval by the German cartel authorities.

http://www.azom.com/details.asp?newsID=3752

Found the above while searching information on the Michelin Challenge Bibendum. Noticed that two of Audi's entries were running on SunFuel diesel.

Reference to the Michelin Challenge Bibendum came on PBS's Great Cars series this morning: Driving the Future.

No mention of smarts - saw one in the background though, and one aerial shot. Hybrid was hyped (as usual), electric was dismissed because of lack of range, diesel still suffered the 'smelly' reputation (though common rail and low sulphur was pointed out by an advocate as evidence of positive evolution), hydrogen continues as the holy grail, and bicycles/skateboards provided comic relief.

Joe LaStella of Green Star Products (biodiesel) was given air time and he put it to good use.