Xethanol, Forest Products Laboratory to Develop Xylitol Process

Xethanol Corporation (OTCBB:XTHN - News) goal is to be the leader in the emerging biomass-to-ethanol industry by optimizing the use of biomass in the renewable energy field and convert biomass that is currently being abandoned or land filled into ethanol and other valuable co-products, especially xylitol.  Xethanol's strategy is to deploy proprietary biotechnologies that will extract and ferment the sugars trapped in these biomass waste concentrations.  Today they announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Xylose Technologies, Inc. (XTI), has finalized a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the USDA Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin.

This CRADA is a cooperative research and development program for the purpose of genetically engineering proprietary yeast strains for the efficient production of xylitol, a low calorie natural sweetener. The feedstock for this process is derived from cellulosic biomass, such as wood chips and corn stalks.  XTI will have the right to commercialize technology developed under the CRADA. XTI currently holds a license for a patented fermentation process to convert xylose into ethanol and xylitol, a technology previously developed by Dr. Jeffries of the FPL. Their existing portfolio of technologies, along with the work being developed under this joint effort with USDA Forest Service, will position XTI to become a low cost, high volume producer of this valuable sweetener.  Although it has been used in this country since the 1960's, demand has been curtailed by high cost and limited, unreliable supply.

Xethanol is using the following points to guide their "Business Approach":

• Production of waste starches or sugars and biomass is widely distributed. Their value is too low to make expensive transportation to a central processing facility economically viable.
• As a consequence, these wastes are abandoned, land-filled or otherwise disposed of at the producer's expense and are typically available at low cost.
• Xethanol’s proposed business is to locate “small footprint” ( 5 – 25 million gallons/year ) plants with the waste source in close proximity to urban ethanol markets.
• Ideal co-location partners include paper recyclers, bakeries, breweries, dairies.
• Urban areas provide abundant waste streams and support higher ethanol prices.
• Xethanol has acquired and continues to acquire new technologies to extract, ferment and distill sugars trapped in these wastes.
• The objective of these technologies is to lower ethanol production costs from biomass.

In addition to the FPL agreement, Xethanol has taken the steps described below to pursue their business plan:

They own two small ethanol production facilities, where it is deploying these technologies. 

• Xethanol BioFuels, LLC, Blairstown, Iowa is a dry mill ethanol production facility. New technologies will be tested at the facility enabling results to be examined under real operating conditions. 
• The Permeate Refining, Inc. facility in Hopkinton, Iowa is serves as a test and demonstration facility for the various alternative feedstock technologies that Xethanol may acquire. Once a targeted technology has been identified and selected it can be moved from the laboratory to the field by scaling it in this plant for further testing and commercialization.

In October 2005, DDS USA granted Xethanol a license to deploy DDS USA's patented dry disaggregation technology in Xethanol's ethanol production facilities to extract materials from agricultural commodities including corn and cellulosic biomass as feedstock for ethanol production. In addition, DDS USA has granted Xethanol an exclusive license, with certain exceptions, to market the DDS dry disaggregation technology to the ethanol industry in the USA.  Xethanol will install the first machine at Xenthanol Biofuels. The initial machine will facilitate integration of the DDS technology into the ethanol production process, as well as being used for demonstration and training.

The DDS System utilizes a new longitudinal micrometric separator, along with other technologies, to micronize and separate various fractions (proteins, fiber, starch, etc.) and converts processing waste streams into value added products for further processing or resale. The DDS technology is a unique process whereby fragments of organic and inorganic matter are "crushed to collision" through violent accelerations and decelerations causing the disaggregation of the structure.

In regard to the DDS technology, Mr. d'Arnaud-Taylor Chairman & CEO of Xethanol Corporation, commented: "In the US, ethanol is primarily produced from corn. But it is generally recognized that the cost effective supply of corn will be a limiting factor in meeting the expected demand for ethanol.  Experts agree that it is critical to utilize technology that extracts fermentable sugars from the whole plant, including wheat straw and corn stalks and rice husks, to meet this growing demand.  We are committed to bringing cutting edge technologies toward solving this problem. Integration of the DDS process for extracting valuable fractions from biomass material with Xethanol's own proprietary fermentation technologies will advance the development of a 'new generation' small footprint ethanol production platform targeted at improving the economics of starch and biomass based ethanol plants."

In June 2004, Xethanol acquired Advanced Bioethanol Technologies, Inc. and the exclusive worldwide license to an innovative biomass extraction and fermentation process developed by researchers at Virginia Tech. This technology may be used to convert biomass to ethanol and xylitol. It is being scaled-up to commercial production at Virgina Tech before transfer to Iowa for full production projected for Q3, 2005.

Xethanol has acquired “small footprint” bio-separation and bio-fermentation technologies which may lower Xethanol’s production costs and increase its profit potential by:

• Separating biomass feedstocks for enhanced enzymatic processing
• Accelerating fermentation time to increase plant throughput
• Reducing energy consumption in the distillation process

Resources:

Xethanol Corporation, New York, NY, Corporate website,
Xethanol Corporation and USDA Forest Product Laboratories Finalize CRADA Agreement, Press release, December 5, 2005
Xethanol Corporation Teams with DDS Technologies USA, Inc. to Commercialize Patented DDS Dry Disaggregation Technology in the US Ethanol Industry, Press release, October 21, 2005

More blogs about biofuels, ethanol, technology, energy

Comments

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