Weyerhaeuser, Chevron look at nonfood source for biofuels

Weyerhaeuser Co. and Chevron Corp. said Friday that they've formed a joint venture to commercialize the technology of making transportation fuel out of plants, trees and recycled paper.

The forest products and oil giants announced last April an affiliation to study production of cellulosic ethanol. Since then they've been working out such issues as how the joint venture would be structured and how intellectual property would be shared.

The end result is Catchlight Energy LLC, which will have offices at Weyerhaeuser's Federal Way facilities and at Chevron's San Ramon, Calif., headquarters, as well as research facilities elsewhere. Catchlight will have 30 to 40 employees initially; the companies didn't disclose how much each is investing in the venture.

The announcement of Catchlight's formation emphasized several times that it will be developing biofuels from nonfood sources.

That's an increasingly important point as the debate intensifies over the environmental benefits of ethanol derived from corn and other food sources, as well as the impact of increased demand for those crops on food prices.

Catchlight plans to focus on how to convert cellulose and lignin (chemicals found in the cell walls of plants) into biofuels.

Weyerhaeuser President Dan Fulton said the plan is for the two companies to develop that technology to commercial scale themselves, rather than license it to others.

He declined to speculate how soon commercialization could be reached.

For potential feedstocks for production of cellulosic ethanol, Catchlight will look at plants that can be grown on forestlands, such as switchgrass, and recycled paper.

Michael Burnside of Chevron has been named Catchlight's chief executive, while Weyerhaeuser's W. Densmore Hunter is the venture's chief technology officer.