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Company Name Fulcrum Bioenergy	Company Web Site http://fulcrum-bioenergy.com/	Headquarters Pleasanton, CA
Latest News FULCRUM BIOENERGY ANNOUNCES PLANS TO BUILD ONE OF THE FIRST COMMERCIAL-SCALE ETHANOL PLANTS USING MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE AS FEEDSTOCK PLEASANTON, Calif., July 18, 2008 Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc., today announced that it is advancing next-generation ethanol production with its plans to build one of the first commercial-scale production facilities for converting municipal solid waste to ethanol. The plant will process municipal solid waste (household garbage), revolutionizing waste disposal while creating a much needed low-cost, reliable and environmentally clean renewable transportation fuel. When it begins operations in early 2010, the Sierra BioFuels plant is expected to produce approximately 10.5 million gallons of ethanol per year, and to process nearly 90,000 tons per year of municipal solid waste that would otherwise have been disposed of in landfills. Fulcrum BioEnergy will design, finance, construct, own and operate the plant, which will be located ten miles east of Reno at the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center in Storey County, Nevada. This latestage development project is expected to cost approximately $120 million and is set to enter construction by the end of this year. "This project is a watershed event in our nation's efforts to create a sustainable source of domestic, renewable transportation fuel," said Fulcrum's President and Chief Executive Officer E. James Macias. "We have selected the best available technologies and applied our know-how from decades of experience in the energy, chemical and waste industries to create an efficient, reliable and environmentally responsible approach to producing ethanol that is cost competitive, we call it Intelligent Biofuel." "Converting garbage waste into a clean, renewable fuel for cars has profound social and environmental benefits. It will help mitigate our dependence on imported oil, lower the price of gasoline, reduce the amount of waste landfilled, lower greenhouse gases and create a new industry of jobs and economic growth. Unlike conventional ethanol technology, which uses corn and other agricultural feedstock, our plant will utilize processed municipal solid waste which will not affect the cost or availability of our nation's food supply," added Macias. The Sierra BioFuels plant is the first of several projects that Fulcrum is currently developing across the country. The plant will utilize gasification technology licensed from Integrated Environmental Technologies ("InEnTec) and a licensed proprietary catalytic technology for converting synthesis gas to ethanol jointly developed by Nipawin Biomass Ethanol New Generation Co-operative Ltd. and Saskatchewan Research Council. Fulcrum's process is expected to be environmentally benign; utilizing a gasification process does not create significant levels of emissions like today's waste-to-energy incineration technology. Fulcrum BioEnergy is collaborating with waste hauling and disposal companies around the country to revolutionize the disposal of solid waste. Because Fulcrum converts postrecycled organic waste, it adds another layer of recovery and recycling to conventional processes. Fulcrum's facilities therefore do not compete or interfere with communities' established recycling programs. Partnering with these solid waste companies will revolutionize waste disposal by further reducing landfill volumes and lowering waste disposal costs in an environmentally responsible manner.
Funding The plant is being built with investments from private equity firm U.S. Renewables Group in Los Angeles and venture-capital firm Rustic Canyon Partners in Santa Monica, Calif. InEnTec will retain a minority equity stake in the project.
Technology Our plants will use a thermo-chemical process for the conversion of municipal solid waste to ethanol. Based on our extensive evaluation, this is the most advanced technology available today for the conversion of waste to fuel. The benefits of our thermo-chemical process include: * proven technology * very low emissions due to closed-loop process * low operating cost structure * highly efficient * adaptability to commercially available sub-systems, due to the similarity of our process to existing petrochemical technologies.
Other Info InEnTec is a company created by scientists from MIT and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, WA. InEnTec, a private company with 27 employees, moved its headquarters to Bend, OR, in December, and still maintains engineering operations in Richland. Jeff Surma, InEnTec's CEO, wouldn't say precisely what it costs to make ethanol from garbage, but he did say it can be made more cheaply than corn-based ethanol, which now costs about $1.50 a gallon. "A year or two ago, when corn was cheaper, this wouldn't have been price-competitive," says Surma. Surma's process is unconventional, but his raw material is actually much cheaper than corn, because cities are willing to pay his company $25 to $75 a ton just to keep the garbage out of landfills. The Reno refinery is expected to start operating in early 2010, Surma says. So far, the project hasn't signed contracts with any municipalities to become garbage suppliers. InEnTec currently operates a demonstration unit in Richland that is capable of processing one-fifth of that city's solid waste. Fulcrum is developing several other ethanol plant projects in the country. The company is working with Casella Waste Systems in Rutland, Vt., on those projects in New England.