Gevo and Sweetwater Energy Sign MoU to Supply Lignocellulosic Feedstocks to Produce Cellulosic Alcohols and Sustainable Aviation Fuel
November 16 2021 - 9:00AM
Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) is pleased to announce it has signed a
memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sweetwater Energy, Inc.,
regarding the use of sustainably sourced agricultural residues and
woody biomass as a feedstock for producing cellulosic alcohols and
energy-dense renewable liquid hydrocarbons.
As outlined in the MoU, Sweetwater plans to build, own and
operate a facility adjacent to Gevo’s existing plant in Luverne,
Minnesota to produce high-value, plant-based products from
cellulose and lignin while supplying Gevo with up to 30,000
tons of biomass-derived cellulosic sugars annually, with
opportunities for expansion. The new Sweetwater facility would
utilize its proprietary Sunburst technology for deconstructing
lignocellulosic biomass. Sweetwater’s anticipated plant-based
product portfolio, derived from cellulose and lignin, is targeted
for applications in packaging, resins, and other applications to
increase performance and sustainability, while displacing
petroleum-based products. Gevo plans to use the offtake of the
low-cost, cellulosic sugars co-produced by Sweetwater for the
anticipated production of cellulosic alcohols and renewable
hydrocarbons.
“We’re very excited to work with Gevo,” says Arunas Chesonis,
Chairman and CEO of Sweetwater Energy. “This partnership fits
perfectly with our goal for the company—replacing petroleum
products with renewable solutions at a price point so low that
making the right decision for the planet is also the right decision
for our customers. This is the beginning of a collaboration that
will pay very real dividends for present and future
generations.”
Gevo was the first company to demonstrate conversion of
cellulosic sugars to make sustainable aviation fuel meeting the
ASTM D7566 specification allowing it to be used for commercial
flights. The company expects it can be commercialized effectively
when cost-effective sources of these sugars meet sustainability
goals. In addition, cellulosic D3 RINs are high value and create an
opportunity for Gevo to leverage its Luverne plant with anticipated
better returns to make higher value products that are in demand in
the marketplace.
The potential partnership with Sweetwater to supply cellulosic
sugars provides an exciting model for Gevo. Because this offtake
model could be replicated globally in multiple locations to fill a
gap in the marketplace, it could further expand the reach of Gevo’s
systems approach to sustainability, while allowing the company to
stay focused on its technology for the production of alcohols and
hydrocarbon fuels. Developing new partnerships for the conversion
of cellulosic biomass is expected to continue to be a part of
Gevo’s strategic plan.
Since Sweetwater’s Sunburst technology is designed with the
flexibility to pretreat many types of biomass and has been proven
in operation at commercial scale at the Sweetwoods Project in
Imavere, Estonia, Sweetwater plans to increase the types of
feedstock used in the Luverne plant to include qualified wood
products and agricultural residues. Construction of the Sweetwater
facility adjacent to the Luverne facility is anticipated to begin
in Q3 2022.
“Combining forces with Sweetwater is a great way to leverage the
best technology and resources from both parties to expand our
addressable feedstocks to produce cellulosic alcohols and energy
dense hydrocarbon fuels and plant-based products,” says Dr. Paul
Bloom, Chief Carbon and Innovation Officer of Gevo. “Working
together we anticipate delivering products to the market faster
while decreasing risk throughout the value chain and lowering
overall product carbon intensities through a systems approach to
decarbonization. This is an important step to expand the portfolio
of carbohydrates we intend to process to include cellulosic sugars
that represent a huge amount of feedstock globally.”
About GevoGevo’s mission is to transform
renewable energy and carbon into energy-dense liquid hydrocarbons.
These liquid hydrocarbons can be used for drop-in transportation
fuels such as gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel, that when burned
have potential to yield net-zero greenhouse gas emissions when
measured across the full life cycle of the products. Gevo uses
low-carbon renewable resource-based carbohydrates as raw materials,
and is in an advanced state of developing renewable electricity and
renewable natural gas for use in production processes, resulting in
low-carbon fuels with substantially reduced carbon intensity (the
level of greenhouse gas emissions compared to standard petroleum
fossil-based fuels across their life cycle). Gevo also plans to
take advantage of decarbonization via geological sequestration in
the future. Gevo’s products perform as well or better than
traditional fossil-based fuels in infrastructure and engines, but
with substantially reduced greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to
addressing the problems of fuels, Gevo’s technology also enables
certain plastics, such as polyester, to be made with more
sustainable ingredients. Gevo’s ability to penetrate the growing
low-carbon fuels market depends on the price of oil and the value
of abating carbon emissions that would otherwise increase
greenhouse gas emissions.
Gevo believes that its proven, patented technology enabling the
use of a variety of low-carbon sustainable feedstocks to produce
price-competitive low-carbon products such as gasoline components,
jet fuel and diesel fuel yields the potential to generate project
and corporate returns that justify the build- out of a
multi-billion-dollar business.
Gevo believes that the Argonne National Laboratory GREET model
is the best available standard of scientific-based measurement for
life cycle inventory or LCI.
Learn more at Gevo’s website: www.gevo.com
About Sweetwater Energy, Inc.Sweetwater Energy
uses a unique technology for producing low-cost nanofibrillated
cellulose, microcrystalline cellulose, cellulosic sugars, and clean
lignin from non-food plant materials to help meet the modern
world's increasing bioenergy and biochemical demands. The company
began in 2009 as a spinout from the Rochester Institute of
Technology with funding from the New York State Energy Research and
Development Authority. The initial goal was to develop a
distributed method of creating ethanol on-site on farmland, but as
the technology developed and its capabilities expanded, the
company’s vision also grew. In early 2020, the first commercial
Sunburst system was installed at the Sweetwoods Project in Imavere,
Estonia, a €43.2 million collaboration of nine European companies
deriving high-value products from wood via the Sunburst system.
Learn more at Sweetwater’s website:
https://www.sweetwater.us/
Forward-Looking StatementsCertain statements in
this press release may constitute “forward-looking statements”
within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to a variety of
matters, without limitation, including Sweetwater Energy, Inc. and
its technology, engineering and constructing a facility in Luverne,
Minnesota, the production of cellulosic sugars and high-value
products derived from forestry and agricultural wastes, the
production of alcohols and advanced renewable fuels including SAF,
the attributes of Gevo’s products, and other statements that are
not purely statements of historical fact. These forward-looking
statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs,
expectations and assumptions of the management of Gevo and are
subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking
statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of
the date they are made, and Gevo undertakes no obligation to update
or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Although Gevo believes that the
expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are
reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties
that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be
expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a
further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ from those expressed in these
forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the
business of Gevo in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual
Report on Form 10-K of Gevo for the year ended December 31, 2020,
and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings
made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission by Gevo.
Gevo Investor and Media ContactHeather L.
Manuel+1 720-418-0085IR@gevo.com
Sweetwater Media ContactJonathan Sherwood+1
585-647-5765Jonathan.Sherwood@Sweetwater.us
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