Velocys forges ahead with commercial projects despite several setbacks

December 09, 2018 | Case Study

Velocys is a small-scale Fischer-Tropsch technology developer that focuses on catalysts and microchannel reactors. Despite its high profile, the company has been marred by commercial failures. Velocys' first commercial project, licensing its catalysts to Solena Fuels for a 39 million gallon per year (MGY) biojet facility as part of the GreenSky Project in 2010, was a catastrophic failure that resulted in the bankruptcy of Solena Fuels in 2015. Its second project, licensing catalysts to Envia GTL for a 5 MGY natural gas/biogas-to-liquid fuel demo plant, was indefinitely shut down in 2018 due to poor design after less than one year of operations. Its third project, licensing catalysts to Red Rock Biofuels for a 15 MGY biojet fuel and renewable diesel facility, experienced years of delays but seemingly appears to be back on track. The licensing model was clearly not working for Velocys, and the company has since shifted to a build, own, and operate (BOO) model for its future commercial projects.