World's First Biogasoline Production Plant

Virent Energy Systems, Inc., (Virent^®) and Shell today announced the successful start of production at the world's first demonstration plant converting plant sugars into gasoline and gasoline blend components, rather than ethanol.

The demonstration plant, located at Virent's facilities in Madison, Wisconsin, is the latest step in a joint biogasoline research and development effort, announced by both companies in March 2008. The demonstration plant has the capacity to produce up to 38,000 litres (10,000 U.S. gallons) per year, which will be used for engine and fleet testing.

This new biofuel can be blended with gasoline in high concentrations for use in standard gasoline engines. The new product has the potential to eliminate the need for specialized infrastructure, engine modifications, and blending equipment necessary for the use of gasoline containing more than 10% ethanol.

Virent's patented BioForming^® platform technology uses catalysts to convert plant sugars into hydrocarbon molecules like those produced at a petroleum refinery. Traditionally, sugars have been fermented into ethanol and distilled. Virent's 'biogasoline' fuel molecules have higher energy content than ethanol and deliver better fuel economy. They can be blended seamlessly to make conventional gasoline or combined with gasoline containing ethanol.

The sugars can be sourced from non-food feedstocks such as corn stover, wheat straw and sugarcane pulp, in addition to conventional biofuel feedstocks such as wheat, corn and sugarcane. The demonstration plant is currently using beet sugar.

"Moving from lab-scale to a demonstration production plant is an important milestone for biogasoline,'' said Luis Scoffone, Vice President of Alternative Energies at Shell. ''There is some way to go on the route to commercialisation, but we have been delighted with the speed of progress achieved by our collaboration with Virent.''

"The successful start-up, which was on-time and budget, demonstrates the potential for scalable, commercial manufacturing of premium, high quality renewable fuels. Renewable fuels that provide high performance, reliability, and lower emissions are now closer to reality as a viable alternative for transportation fuels from crude oil," said Lee Edwards, CEO of Virent. "Virent's industry leading collaboration with Shell is focused on delivering material solutions to global challenges in energy security, environment sustainability and job creation."

Virent's BioForming process is a leading technology for the production of fungible advanced biofuels, including renewable biogasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. Virent has won numerous technology and innovation awards including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge and the World Economic Forum's Technology Pioneer awards. Virent is based in Madison, WI, with 80 employees in a world class catalytic biorefining development facility. Virent counts Cargill and Honda among its leading investors and Royal Dutch Shell as a strategic collaboration partner. The BioForming technology is based on the Aqueous Phase Reforming process. To learn more, visit: www.virent.com.

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Issuance of U.S. Patent for Production of Ethanol From Unique Microorganism

Qteros, Inc., and the University of Massachusetts Amherst announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 7,682,811 titled "Systems and Methods for Producing Biofuels and Related Materials" describing the novel creation of products, including biofuels, through the fermentation of biomass by a unique, naturally-occurring anaerobic microorganism.

The patent is based on the novel Q Microbe™ (Clostridium phytofermentans), discovered by UMass Amherst microbiologists Professor Susan Leschine and Research Associate Thomas Warnick. Qteros, the exclusive licensee of the patent, has demonstrated that their Q Microbe™ technology offers ethanol producers significant cost reductions by streamlining the biomass-conversion process, commonly referred to as "consolidated bio-processing" (CBP).

"Integration of our unique Q Microbe™ technology into a cellulosic ethanol plant design allows producers the opportunity to dramatically reduce the capital and operating costs associated with a biomass-to-ethanol process," states Kevin A. Gray, PhD, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Qteros. According to Gray, "While traditional cellulosic ethanol processes require numerous production steps, including the addition of costly exogenous enzymes, use of the Q Microbe™ lowers costs by simultaneously hydrolyzing polysaccharides into simple sugars and fermenting all of these sugars into desirable products in a single-tank operation."

"The Q Microbe™ technology offers numerous important advantages over other ethanol-producing microorganisms, which we believe provides the operational foundation for profitable, commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol production," states John A. McCarthy, Jr., President and CEO of Qteros. "This patent underscores the significance and the unique nature of our technology and represents an important milestone that will further our progress toward commercialization of a robust, low-cost CBP platform for cellulosic ethanol production."

Specific advantages of this patented technology include, the natural production of all enzymes required to digest biomass into its component sugars, the ability to ferment polymeric forms of sugar resulting in decreased pretreatment costs and more efficient ethanol production, the highly efficient fermentation of all major sugars present in biomass, and the production of ethanol as the primary product of the microorganism's metabolism. Qteros' CBP system not only enables the production of fuel-grade cellulosic ethanol in a uniquely streamlined production process, it also results in higher ethanol yields from a given amount of biomass material compared to other methods. To date, the Q Microbe™ has performed efficiently across a broad range of feedstocks that include, wheat straw, sugar cane bagasse, energy crops such as switchgrass, and agricultural residues such as corn stover, cob, and fiber.

All of these advantages improve the economics of ethanol production by reducing capital and operating costs, making this microorganism ideally suited for large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol from a wide variety of non-food plant materials. Additionally, Qteros scientists and engineers continue to improve the performance of the microorganism through genetic modification and process optimization.

Issuance of this patent and the evolving science that underlies it will enable the rapid acceleration and commercialization of Q Microbe™ technology. Qteros' work in its facilities, as well as ongoing work being done at UMass Amherst, will allow Qteros and its partners to deliver on the promise of low-cost cellulosic ethanol production across the worldwide market.

"We applaud Qteros' success in advancing the Q Microbe™ technology," says Nick DeCristofaro, Director of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property at UMass Amherst. "Dr. Susan Leschine has been a torch bearer for technology transfer on our campus. The relationship between Qteros and UMass is an excellent example of how industry and universities can work together to bring innovation to the marketplace."

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