BP-MIT Partnership to Focus on Advanced Conversion Technologies

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Today, BP plc and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) announced a major research partnership around energy conversion technologies. The program will 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.

(LOGO: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000724/NYM120LOGO )

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.

In announcing the partnership, MIT President Susan Hockfield praised the collaboration: “This exciting partnership between MIT and BP epitomizes what the MIT Energy Initiative is designed to accomplish: the pairing of innovative MIT researchers across the entire campus with results-oriented scientists, engineers and planners in industry, working together to transform the world’s energy marketplace.”

The BP-MITEI collaboration will support a ‘flagship’ energy research program, the BP-MIT Advanced Conversion Research Project, which includes several interrelated research thrusts:

   — Advanced simulation of processes for feedstock conversion and      decarbonisation;   — Multiscale 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.   

BP America’s Chairman and President, Bob Malone said: “Conversion technologies will play a critical role in regional energy security and will provide access to clean energy sources in both the developed and developing world. The BP-MIT Advanced Conversion Research Project is a natural research extension to our successful executive development programs at MIT.”

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.

Professor Ernest J. Moniz, Director of MITEI, also applauded BP’s commitment to energy research and education. “This will help transform how the world uses its abundant coal resources and demonstrates a strong commitment to developing the next generation of energy technologists, supporting 50 energy fellowships over the length of the collaboration.”

Total funding for the BP Advanced Conversion Research Program and for the associated MITEI commitments will be at least $5M per year for five years.

   Notes to editor:   — MIT has an Institute-wide initiative designed to help transform the      global energy system to meet the challenges of the future. The MIT      Energy Initiative includes research, education, campus energy      management and outreach activities, an interdisciplinary approach that      covers all areas of energy supply and demand, security and      environmental impact. For more information, please visit      http://web.mit.edu/mitei/.   — BP spends around $50 million a year in its global university research      program that includes long-term partnerships with prestigious      universities and research institutions in the UK, US, China and Russia.      MIT runs the unique executive education program for BP’s project      leaders – the Projects Academy. Together the research programs address      challenges in resource base extensions, conversion technologies and      low-carbon options to which fundamental scientific breakthroughs could      hold the answer. In addition to the MIT research program announced      today, BP also sponsors conversion related research through the BP      Methane Conversion Co-operative based at the University of California-      Berkeley and California Institute of Technology, USA.    About MIT  

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a co-educational privately endowed research university, is dedicated to advancing knowledge and educating students in science, technology, and other areas of scholarship that will serve the nation and the world in the 21st century. The Institute has more than 900 faculty and 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. It is organized into five schools: Architecture and Urban Planning; Engineering; Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, MIT Sloan School of Management, and Science.

MIT’s commitment to innovation has led to a host of scientific breakthroughs and technological advances. Achievements of the Institute’s faculty and graduates include the first chemical synthesis of penicillin and vitamin A, the development of inertial guidance systems, modern technologies for artificial limbs, and the magnetic core memory that made possible the development of digital computers. Sixty-three alumni, faculty, researchers and staff have won Nobel Prizes.

Current areas of research and education include cancer, energy, neuroscience and the study of the brain and mind, bioengineering, the environment and sustainable development, information sciences and technology, new media, financial technology, and entrepreneurship.

About BP

BP is of one of the world’s largest energy companies with operations in more than 100 countries across six continents. The company’s main businesses are exploration and production of oil and gas; refining, manufacturing and marketing of oil products and petrochemicals; transportation and marketing of natural gas; and a growing business in renewable and low-carbon power, BP Alternative Energy. BP spends significant amounts every year on university technology programs around the world, spanning every aspect of its current business, and is now seeking to foster further innovation in the industry through selected collaborations with innovative technology companies. For more information, visit http://www.bp.com/.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000724/NYM120LOGOPRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

BP

CONTACT: Elizabeth Thomson, MIT News Office, +1-617-258-5402,thomson@mit.edu; or Sarah Howell, BP Press Office, +1-202-457-6603

Web site: http://www.bp.com/http://web.mit.edu/mitei