Chevron’s new Iowa-based tech center to drive innovation in future fuels

Photo: Chevron

State and local officials along with company leaders at Chevron Corp. celebrated the grand opening of the Ames Technology Center June 10 on the Chevron Renewable Energy Group campus.

The 45,000-square-foot facility, which sits on the Chevron campus in Ames, Iowa, will expand the company’s lower-carbon fuels technology-development and advanced technical-support capabilities by adding new analytical laboratory and R&D space, along with new offices.

“It’s inspiring to see so many people from all corners of the Iowa innovation ecosystem—industry, academia, government—join us as we demonstrate how the Ames Technology Center will help lead Chevron into the future with innovation,” said Jim Gable, Chevron’s president of technology ventures and vice president of innovation.

“The capabilities we advance here will be applied to other parts of Chevron in the renewable energy space and could be deployed at some of our biorefineries across the globe,” Gable added.

Chevron operates nine biorefineries around the world, including two in Iowa, and is pursuing opportunities that generate a competitive return in biodiesel, renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel, renewable natural gas and other biofuels.

To rapidly scale and commercialize these products, Chevron is advancing new catalytic technologies, partnering to develop lower-carbon feedstocks, and leveraging its world-class fuel-production expertise at existing facilities.

An example of how the work at the state-of-the-art Ames Technology Center can drive innovation in future-fuels development includes the expansion project at Chevron’s Geismar, Louisiana, renewable diesel production facility that is increasing site production capacity from 90 million gallons per year (mgy) to 340 mgy.

With investments like this one, and a commitment of $8 billion to grow its lower-carbon businesses by 2028, Chevron is building a portfolio of lower-carbon solutions that are available in the marketplace today.