'Aiea-based ClearFuels Technology Inc. is edging closer to building a biofuel refinery in Hawai'i, with the company receiving $7.7 million of a $22.6 million Department of Energy grant to integrate its synthesis gas technology with another process.

ClearFuels has been working with Rentech Inc. to construct a biomass gasifier at Rentech's Energy Technology Center in Colorado. The partners are hoping to successfully combine ClearFuels' technology with Rentech's Fisher-Tropsch process to achieve low-cost production of renewable diesel and jet fuel from clean biomass.