MIT and BP create a research partnership

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and BP plc are collaborating in a research partnership to create energy conversion technologies.

MIT said 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.

BP also has become the founding member of the MIT Energy Initiative, created in 2006 to address global energy issues.

In announcing the partnership, MIT President Susan Hockfield said: "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."

Officials said the BP-MIT collaboration will support such research as gasification technology development, fuels market and policy analysis and the creation of processes for converting synthesis gas to liquid fuels.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International

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