Aemetis Notified of US Forest Service Grant for Patented Process Enabling Use of Waste Wood for the ‘Carbon Zero’ Jet/Die...
May 20 2021 - 8:00AM
via NewMediaWire –
Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTX), a renewable
natural gas and renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon
intensity products, has been notified of a grant from the U.S.
Forest Service toward the commercialization of a patented process
that extracts cellulosic sugars from waste orchard wood, waste
forest wood, and other biomass.
The sugars from waste wood could potentially be used to produce
high value cellulosic ethanol at the existing 65 million gallon per
year Aemetis ethanol plant, while the remaining lignin material is
expected to be used in the production of negative carbon intensity,
cellulosic hydrogen for use in renewable jet and diesel production
at the Aemetis Carbon Zero 1 plant being built in Riverbank,
CA.
“The ionic liquids technology has the potential to extract
sugars from waste wood at an industrial scale to create valuable
biofuels from materials that otherwise may contribute to forest
fires, creating air pollution and carbon emissions as well as
property damage and loss of life,” said Larry Swan, Wood &
Biomass Utilization Program Leader, U.S. Forest Service Pacific
Southwest Regional Office. “We look forward to eventual deployment
of this technology to use forest wood waste to supply Aemetis
ethanol plants with low cost cellulosic sugars and provide lignin
as a feedstock for other uses.”
“Aemetis has an exclusive license from JBEI for a patented
process that extracts cellulosic sugars comprising up to 55% of
woody biomass, and we have already produced cellulosic ethanol that
tested equal in performance to traditional ethanol,” stated Dr.
Goutham Vemuri, Vice President of Technology Development at
Aemetis. “This breakthrough technology was initially
developed with $3 million of grant funding from the California
Energy Commission and this U.S. Forest Service grant will further
advance our plan to build a commercial production
plant.”
“We are thankful to the U.S. Forest Service team members who
have supported our efforts to reduce the amount of waste wood in
forests, improve the health of forests and reduce orchard wood
field burning while producing valuable, low carbon intensity
biofuels,” said Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis.
“Our planned deployment of the sugar extraction plant supported by
this grant is expected to occur as we construct the Carbon Zero 1
renewable jet and diesel production plant in Riverbank,
CA.”
The DOE Bioenergy Technology Office (BETO) has identified more
than one billion tons per year of renewable, low carbon intensity,
low cost, waste wood from forests, orchards and other biomass
sources that can be used for biofuels and biochemicals
production. The DOE has provided extensive funding for
process technologies that convert this abundant, domestic feedstock
source into renewable fuels, resulting in patented technologies
such as the ionic liquids process developed by JBEI.
The ionic liquids sugar extraction technology is exclusively
licensed to Aemetis by the Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) in
Berkeley, California which receives significant funding from the
U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
The Carbon Zero 1 biorefinery is scheduled to be completed and
begin operations in 2023 with a capacity of 45 million gallons per
year of renewable jet and diesel fuel, then double production
capacity to 90 million gallons per year by 2025.
About Aemetis
Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Aemetis is a renewable
natural gas, renewable fuel and biochemicals company focused on the
acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative
technologies that replace petroleum-based products and reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. Founded in 2006, Aemetis has
completed Phase 1 and is expanding a California biogas digester
network and pipeline system to convert dairy waste gas into
Renewable Natural Gas (RNG). Aemetis owns and operates a 65
million gallon per year ethanol production facility in California’s
Central Valley near Modesto that supplies about 80 dairies with
animal feed. Aemetis also owns and operates a 50 million
gallon per year production facility on the East Coast of India
producing high quality distilled biodiesel and refined glycerin for
customers in India and Europe. Aemetis is developing the
Carbon Zero renewable jet and diesel fuel integrated biorefineries
in California to utilize distillers corn oil and other renewable
oils to produce low carbon intensity renewable jet and diesel fuel
using cellulosic hydrogen from waste orchard and forest wood, while
pre-extracting cellulosic sugars from the waste wood to be
processed into high value cellulosic ethanol at the Keyes
plant. Aemetis holds a portfolio of patents and related
technology licenses to produce renewable fuels and
biochemicals. For additional information about Aemetis,
please visit www.aemetis.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This news release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding our assumptions, projections, expectations,
targets, intentions or beliefs about future events or other
statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking
statements in this news release include, without limitation,
statements relating to the development and construction of a sugar
extraction plant, construction and operation of the jet and diesel
biorefinery in Riverbank, California, our compliance with
governmental programs, and the ability to access markets and
funding to execute our business plan. Words or phrases such
as “anticipates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “believes,” “estimates,”
“expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “showing
signs,” “targets,” “view,” “will likely result,” “will continue” or
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. These forward-looking statements are based on current
assumptions and predictions and are subject to numerous risks and
uncertainties. Actual results or events could differ
materially from those set forth or implied by such forward-looking
statements and related assumptions due to certain factors,
including, without limitation, competition in the ethanol,
biodiesel and other industries in which we operate, commodity
market risks including those that may result from current weather
conditions, financial market risks, customer adoption,
counter-party risks, risks associated with changes to federal
policy or regulation, and other risks detailed in our reports filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual
Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and in our
subsequent filings with the SEC. We are not obligated, and do not
intend, to update any of these forward-looking statements at any
time unless an update is required by applicable securities
laws.
External Investor Relations Contact:Kirin SmithPCG
Advisory Group(646) 863-6519ksmith@pcgadvisory.com
Company Contact:Todd WaltzChief Financial Officer(408)
213-0925twaltz@aemetis.com
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