Message #54 From:
NewsBot Date: November 9, 2006 05:10:00 AM
GSHF News GS AgriFuels to Convert Corn Oil into Biodiesel at Ethanol Facilities
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GS AgriFuels Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GSGF) today announced its
plans to co-locate integrated corn oil-to-biodiesel production
technologies on-site at ethanol production facilities.
GS AgriFuels’ biodiesel production
technologies, developed by recently acquired NextGen Fuel, Inc., are
modular and can be integrated directly into existing and new ethanol
production facilities in a plug-and-play manner. The technologies allow
host ethanol facilities to quickly and cost-effectively participate in
the benefits of corn oil biodiesel production.
Benefits of Program
Integral, modular and plug and play technologies
Low capital and operating expense versus traditional methods
Rapid commissioning – less than 9 months
from contract
Host facilities can own equity in co-located production assets and
have rights to purchase or re-sell biofuel output
Participating ethanol facilities generate significant additional
annualized income and earn a return on their investment in the program
about 1.5 years
How the Program Works
GS AgriFuels’ sister company, GS CleanTech
Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GSCT), a process engineering and
technology transfer company, sells technology and equipment to ethanol
facilities designed to extract corn oil from distillers dried grains (“DDG”),
a co-product of corn ethanol production that is currently sold as a feed
product.
GS CleanTech sells its Corn Oil Extraction Systems™
to participating facilities and maintains the right to purchase the
extracted corn oil at a substantial premium to its current value locked
in the DDG. The ethanol facility receives 100% of the economics from the
corn oil purchases.
The jointly-owned biodiesel facility will acquire this oil and convert
it to biodiesel on site. The host ethanol facility not only receives a
stake in the biodiesel facility and its pro rata share of profits, but
also the right to acquire or market all of the biodiesel output.
Impact of Corn Oil Extraction & Integral Biodiesel Production on
100MM Gallon Per Year Ethanol Facility
An ethanol facility converts 36 million bushels of corn into 100 million
gallons of ethanol and 320,000 tons of DDG. DDG has a value of only
$0.035 per pound while fuel prices exceed $0.30 per pound and therefore
it is highly advantageous to convert as much as possible of this DDG
byproduct into fuel.
GS CleanTech’s patent-pending corn oil
extraction technology extracts roughly 7 million gallons of the fat in
the DDG in the form of corn oil that can then be converted into
biodiesel on close to a 1:1 volumetric basis.
GS AgriFuels’ patent-pending NextGen biodiesel
process technology leverages innovative process intensification
techniques to accelerate and enhance traditional biodiesel reaction
kinetics, thus decreasing process time, reducing energy and raw material
needs, and increasing product quality. These benefits translate to
increased capital and operating cost efficiencies at smaller scales as
compared to traditional biodiesel process technologies, and much quicker
lead times.
Used in concert, both technologies increase the corn to fuel yield by
roughly 7% and corresponding revenues by more than 6%.
Tom Scozzafava, president and chief operating officer of GS AgriFuels,
added that “The opportunity to create and
offer this program to ethanol producers was a key motivation for our
recent acquisition of NextGen Fuel. NextGen’s
biodiesel technology completes the technology product suite of corn
oil-to-biodiesel and allows us to offer the program in the most rapid
and cost effective manner. The NextGen biodiesel process technology is a
very robust, continuous flow process that is less capital intensive to
build and cheaper to operate as compared to traditional batch methods.
It is cost-effective at small scales and its plug and play capability
equates to rapid deployment cycles. For example, a host ethanol facility
that signs up for our program today can be in operation before the end
of 2007. We are very excited to offer this exciting program to ethanol
producers and their communities.”
GS AgriFuels was founded to produce and sell clean fuels from
agriproducts in innovative ways. GS AgriFuels’
business model is based on the manufacturing and sales of proprietary
biodiesel equipment and the use of new technologies to produce biodiesel
and ethanol from non-traditional feedstocks such as corn oil and
cellulosic biomass through the utilization of several new proprietary
technologies, including innovative desiccation, process intensification,
gasification, catalytic, and carbon capture technologies,
synergistically at small-scales to enable the refining of many forms of
biomass into clean fuels at Integrated Multi-Fuel (“IMF”)
production facilities. GS AgriFuels acquired NextGen Fuel, Inc. in
October 2006.
GS AgriFuels is about 90% owned by GreenShift Corporation (OTC Bulletin
Board: GSHF), a company devoted to facilitating the efficient use of
natural resources.
About GS CleanTech Corporation
GS CleanTech provides applied engineering and technology transfer
services based on clean technologies and process innovations that make
it cost-effective and easy to recycle and reuse resources. GS CleanTech
is about 80% owned by GreenShift Corporation.
GS CleanTech’s Corn Oil Extraction System™
Currently, the majority of the ethanol produced domestically is based on
a dry milling technique that converts corn into ethanol. The corn is
milled and then mashed with a combination of heat and enzymes that
convert the starch in the corn into fermentable sugars. This mash is
then cooled and mixed with yeast to create a fermented mash which is
then separated into alcohol and stillage. The alcohol is distilled and
dehydrated into 200 proof fuel-grade ethanol. The stillage is sent
through series of centrifuges and evaporators and then to a rotary dryer
to reduce moisture. The output of the drying stage is a co-product
called distillers dried grains (“DDG”)
which is conventionally sold as a livestock feed.
GS CleanTech’s patent-pending corn oil
extraction technology intercepts the whole stillage flow in between the
distillation stage in the final drying stage. GS CleanTech routes the
whole stillage through its extraction technology where up to 75% of the
total oil within the corn is extracted using safe, non-solvent based
extraction methods. The crude corn oil is then routed to storage for use
as a raw material for biodiesel production and the now defatted whole
stillage is returned to the drying stage of the ethanol production
process where it is efficiently dried into defatted DDG. GS CleanTech’s
corn oil extraction technology provides ethanol producers with the
following benefits:
Increased Revenue– The corn oil
extracted is readily amenable to refining into biodiesel fuel which
creates a new revenue stream for participating ethanol facilities;
Reduced Operating Costs and Emissions –
Corn oil removal can improve drying efficiency by more than 10% with
reduced natural gas or coal needs and reduced emissions (NOx, SOx,
VOC, and CO2);
Low Operating Costs– The system
requires less than $0.05 per gallon of corn oil produced;
High Recovery Rates– The technology
is capable of recovering up to 75% of the corn oil within the DDG; and,
Increased Inclusion Rates –Corn oil
removal can improve defatted DDG marketability and inclusion rates by
reducing fat content.
Additional information on GS CleanTech’s Corn
Oil Extraction System and GS CleanTech’s
ethanol efficiency program is available online at www.gs-cleantech.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements that may constitute
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of
1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include
statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of GS
AgriFuels Corporation, and members of their management as well as the
assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors
are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not
guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties,
and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by
such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to
management that could cause actual results to differ materially from
those in forward-statements include fluctuation of operating results,
the ability to compete successfully and the ability to complete
before-mentioned transactions. The company undertakes no obligation to
update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed
assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future
operating results.
