Before the end of 2009, Inbicon will begin making The New Ethanol commercially available in Denmark

May 26, 2009

Here’s an updated report on our next steps toward making cellulosic ethanol work for the world.
Before the end of 2009, Inbicon will begin making The New Ethanol commercially available in Denmark from a demonstration model of the Inbicon Biomass Refinery. It will further substantiate the practicality of our pathway for converting biomass like wheat straw and corn stover into ethanol and several co-products. The aerial photo shows construction progress to date at the Kalundborg port site, where we’re erecting a 100MT/day Inbicon Biomass Refinery. This $50 million investment signals our steadfast commitment to the commercialization of Inbicon’s proprietary technology and to the continuous improvement of the process.

2003: our 2.4MT/day pilot plant opens.

2005: we expand the pilot plant another 10 times to 24MT/day.

2009: we process 100MT/day at Kalundborg.

In the United States, there are many opportunities to prove our process through integration with a large grain-ethanol plant, opportunities that don’t exist in Denmark. Instead, to show how our co-generation concept works, we’re building our Kalundborg refinery next to a coal-fired power plant operated by our parent company, DONG Energy.

Waste heat from the power plant will help process the biomass. And the powdered lignin byproduct of the ethanol production will be turned into bio-pellets and can replace some of the coal burned by other power plants or sold on the market.

But we’re not stopping with the refinery. It’s the genesis of a bigger idea: the Inbicon Biomass Technology Campus. With the refinery at its core, the new Tech Campus is being designed to foster worldwide scientific collaboration in an open environment. It will include a comprehensive research and development capability, set up like a technology transfer station, a collaborative lab for ongoing feedstock testing, an international round table for exchanging knowledge on biomass conversion and promoting clean energy dialogue. Collaborating partners can come test their new concepts and equipment. Prospective clients will get hands-on understanding of Inbicon technology. Clients licensing our technology will learn how to run their new operations before they’re built. And key plant staff can be trained so producers are operating their plants at name plate capacity from day one.

More specifically, the Kalundborg project will significantly accelerate the advancement of our technology in 4 important ways:

1) It will support our current and future portfolio of patented technologies.

2) We can optimize the process through ongoing experimental design.

3) Continuous 24/7 operations will let us study both short- and long- term variability.

4) Conducting trials of unique equipment and alternative process design will expand options for improvement.

We expect the tech campus and biomass refinery to be finished in time to showcase Inbicon technology to the world leaders who gather in Copenhagen this December for the 15th annual United Nations Climate Summit. Will you, as a leader in processing The New Ethanol, be among them?

“Exciting exchange of ideas,” sums up Michael Persson, Inbicon Vice President, who led the Inbicon delegation at the 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals in San Francisco. Michael’s presentation, “Ethanol from wheat straw - a reality in Denmark from November 2009,” updated his audience in detail about Inbicon’s progress toward commercialization. Joining him was Jeff Robert, who leads technical development in North America. Hundreds of other reports and scientific papers were presented at the conference.    

Beyond the technical challenge is a logistics one. Larry Johnson, our project developer in North America, is just back from the Biomass Conference in Portland, Oregon, where he presented the biomass handling challenges and solution options that lie ahead for any biomass-to-ethanol producer. Larry reports a “noticeable enthusiasm and excitement” among the thousand-plus attending the 2009 conference, up about 25 percent from last year. “It’s a good snapshot of where the industry is heading,” Larry says. “The second-generation ethanol business is alive and well and growing fast.”

See you at the FEW. Next month look for four Inbicon representatives on stage at the annual Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Denver: Christian Morgen, Inbicon’s director of marketing; Thomas Corle, who leads marketing of our North American (NA) team; Jeff Robert, NA Technology and Engineering; and Larry Johnson, NA Project Development. We look forward to seeing you at our presentations. And at the Inbicon booth #536.

Yes, The New Ethanol News is new. It’s news for Inbicon partners and friends before it’s news for the world. News about our latest technological advances in converting cellulosic biomass to The New Ethanol. Breaking news about steps toward commercial scale-ups—in North America, Denmark, around the world. Biomass handling reports, conference presentations, quick briefs on new collection equipment, specific details on new ventures, occasional bios, unique perspectives, helpful links, bottom-line assessments of what looks promising and what doesn’t—it’s hard to categorize the shape and schedule of the future of ethanol. We’ll keep making it work for the world and report the detours as well as the mileposts. Don’t look for a regular schedule. We’re not slaves to weekly or monthly outpourings just to clutter your mailbox. When we have news, we’ll send it to you first in The New Ethanol News. And when don’t have news, we’ll try to keep quiet.

For More Information go to www.inbicon.com or call Christian Morgen +45 99 55 29 83 Corporate or Thomas Corle +717 626 0557 North America

To pursue your interest in projects worldwide email us at: mailto:info@inbicon.com

Biomass Refineries™

© 2009 Inbicon, Kraftværksvej 53-Skærbæk, 7000 Fredericia, Denmark, Tel +45 76 22 20 00
The New Ethanol™ and Inbicon Biomass Refinery™ are trademarks of Inbicon A/S and DONG Energy A/S.

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