BP-MIT Research Partnership to Focus on Energy Conversion Technologies

25 September 2007

BP plc and MIT have formed a research partnership to explore the conversion of low-value carbon feedstocks such as petcoke and coal to high-value products such as electricity, liquid fuels and chemicals, while minimizing carbon dioxide emissions.

In establishing this partnership, BP also becomes the inaugural Founding Member of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), which was created in 2006 to address global energy issues. Total funding for the research program and for the associated MITEI commitments will be at least $5M per year for five years.

The new BP-MIT Advanced Conversion Research Project includes several interrelated research thrusts:

• Advanced simulation of processes for feedstock conversion and decarbonization;

• Multi-scale simulation of gasification;

• Synthesis gas cleanup and upgrade;

• Gasification technology development;

• New processes for converting synthesis gas to liquid fuels;

• Process integration and design for operability; and

• Fuels market and policy analysis.

As the Founding Member, BP will also support MITEI’s Energy Research Seed Fund program. This program will fund novel energy research concepts generated from an annual campus-wide solicitation. In addition, BP will support ten “BP-MIT Energy Fellows” at the Institute each year of its five-year commitment.