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October 13, 2008
From DailyTech's converage of the Platts 2008 Conference
"CEO of Terrabon LLC brought a really interesting presentation to the stage. Mr. Luce's company is seeking make nothing less than cheap gasoline-grade fuel. Their process uses microbial fermentation in an acidic lake to produce acetic acid, which is used as a building block for long chain hydrocarbons. His company is building its first demonstration plant in Bryan, Texas, which will be online this fall. They claim that they can deliver $1.25 to $1.50/gallon gasoline and will produce 6 million gallons a year in the near future. DailyTech inquired what grade the gasoline product would be, and Mr. Luce responded that their current production is around 96 octane. If true, this means that with a bit of down-mixing their claim of synthetic gasoline is certainly possible."
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Technology
Terrabon is developing and deploying cutting-edge technologies for biomass conversion and water desalination. Working with licensees and strategic partners, Terrabon is bringing cost effective, sustainable solutions to the production of renewable fuels and industrial chemicals and to the scaleable treatment of non-conventional water resources.
Terrabon has developed and is currently licensing its low-cost MixAlco(tm) biomass conversion technology to commercial customers. Originally organized in 1995 to finance research at Texas A&M University, and privately funded by Texas investors, the Company is now building its first demonstration plant in Bryan, Texas. This plant will test the scaled-up commercial feasibility of the MixAlco technology and is expected to be operational in the fall of 2008.
MixAlco is a technology that employs carboxylic acid fermentation followed by downstream chemistry to convert low-cost, readily available "non-food" biomass into valuable chemicals such as acetic acid and ketones, or for further processing into alcohols such as renewable gasoline, jet fuel, diesel or ethanol. The MixAlco technology can utilize such feedstocks as municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, forest product residues, including wood chips, wood molasses and other wood waste, and non-edible energy crops such as sweet sorghum.
MixAlco uses conventional non-sterile anaerobic digestion and well-established chemistry, resulting in capital and operating costs that are lower than other biochemical (sugar/enzymatic) or thermochemical technologies.
Using MSW and raw sewage generated by a typical municipality (population of 250,000), the Company believes that its licensees can build biorefineries for:
* Renewable Gasoline. Producing 6.0 million gallons per year of renewable gasoline for cash conversion costs(inclusive of feed stocks) of about $1.25 to $1.50 per gallon.
* Acetic Acid. Producing 90 million lb. per year of acetic acid at a cash conversion cost( inclusive of feed stocks) of $0.10 to $0.20 per lb. The current market price for acetic acid is about $0.35 per lb.
Terrabon is focusing its early efforts on licensing and joint ventures with biomass generators who are forced to deal with their stranded biomass. Such biomass generators would include municipalities, forest product manufacturers, and food processors. These early biomass plants will produce chemicals that have a high margin, but the plants will be small. As the company grows, and energy crop logistics are developed, the company would move on to build, own and operate proprietary plants. These plants will be large, and will more than likely produce fuels.
The Company has exclusive, worldwide rights to a suite of Texas A&M-developed MixAlco-related patents and know-how that offer a low-cost, high-profit solution to biofuels and bio-products production including:
* Significantly Lower Cash Conversion Costs. MixAlco converts low cost, readily available "non-food" biomass into a wide array of chemicals including carboxylic acids (acetic acid), ketones (acetone), primary alcohols (ethanol), and secondary alcohols (isopropanol). Secondary alcohols can be further refined into renewable gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
* Significantly Lower Capital Costs. The Company believes that MixAlco plants yielding approximately 7.3 million gallons of renewable gasoline per year, can be built by municipalities or industrial waste processors for a capital cost of approximately $22,000,000 or about $3.00 per annual gallon of renewable gasoline, assuming hydrogen is produced on-site. This conversion cost and capital cost advantage over well established biochemical (sugar/enzymatic) and thermochemical (gasification) technologies is achieved because MixAlco's carboxylate conversion (carboxylic acid fermentation):
o does not require the addition of expensive enzymes
o does not require sterile processing equipment
o does not employ energy-intensive distillation
o does not require high heat or pressures
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