Pursuit to save the US bioethanol industry multi-millions - News - Hi-tech - Business Weekly

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Pursuit to save the US bioethanol industry multi-millions

Written by Sam Fountain
Friday, 29 February 2008
Corn could become a cash crop for Pursuit. Image courtesy: Pratheepps Technology which could save the US bioethanol industry multi-millions has made its way across the Atlantic, after PDX developer, Pursuit Dynamics announced its first commercial deal with a plant in Oregon. Huntingdon-based Pursuit said that the system, which is capable of increasing bioethanol yield by 14 per cent, will be installed at Pacific Ethanol's facility in Oregon, USA. It said that the agreement with Pacific Ethanol, which is 25 per cent owned by Microsoft baron, Bill Gates, will see Pursuit earning revenues based on a percentage of the benefits achieved from the installation, which are expected to be in the multi-millions on a plant of this size. The US bioethanol industry is growing at an incredible rate, with capacity expected to increase by over 60 per cent to 10.5bn gallons a year in 2008, and Pursuit said that it anticipates demand for the PDX ERT system to be intensified by rising feedstock prices. After installing the system in a US-based pilot plant last year, Pursuit said that the system realised a 14 per cent increase in bioethanol yield when compared to existing methods of production, accompanied by a 20 per cent reduction in fermentation times. "With feedstock price increases expected to continue, the company believes there is significant demand for commercially available technologies which have been proven to significantly increase yield per bushel of corn," the company said in a statement. The system, which has been specifically developed to be retrofittable to existing bioethanol production facilities, is the result of two years of work from Pursuit, with the firm contributing a considerable portion of its human resources to the project. "The signing of this agreement represents the first stage of the commercialisation process of the PDX bioethanol system and is the culmination of more than two years work," said Pursuit's CEO, John Heathcote. "Pursuit Dynamics has been working closely with Pacific Ethanol over the past 12 months and, with their reputation for innovation and technical excellence, they are the ideal launch partners for us and we look forward to delivering the maximum possible bottom-line benefit to them through the application of our technology." The company said that the agreement with Pacific Ethanol has been structured such that both parties work together during a 90 day trial period, followed by a 180 day optimisation period, to confirm the mix of benefits previously demonstrated by the PDX technology. This deal in the US could be the first of many for the East of England innovator, as the benefits of the PDX system are seen: "We are excited by the potential of this technology to further enhance the efficiency of our production facilities," said CEO of the US bioethanol giant, Neil Koehler. "Pacific Ethanol is committed to leading the industry with a cutting edge plant network and this is exactly the kind of step-change process to deliver heightened benefits to both our shareholders and the environment." With the completion of existing construction projects, the US bioethanol industry will have a capacity in excess of 13bn gallons, or almost 10 per cent of the nation's gasoline demand. Pursuit said that it expects to ship the PDX bioethanol system in March 2008 and fit it at Pacific Ethanol's Boardman, Oregon plant with the trial period commencing by June 2008. The Boardman plant has been operating since August 2007 and has the capacity to produce 40 million gallons of bioethanol annually. The PDX ERT system is the latest in a series of innovative applications of the PDX technology, which has seen the company expand into a wide range of industries including food & drink, brewing, fire suppression and decontamination. Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Hits: 490 Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Show/Hide comments Write comment Show/Hide comment form This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment.