The demonstration facility, located in Upton, Wyoming, was originally constructed circa 2007 for the enzymatic conversion of wood feedstocks to ethanol. The plant has a nominal capacity of 50 tons per day of biomass and in 2011 was converted to enable the processing of sugar cane bagasse. The plant is currently based on a typical enzymatic hydrolysis flowsheet and includes all unit operations through to final fuel-grade ethanol production. GSF plans to retrofit the existing flowsheet to its proprietary 5CS Technology.
“The acquisition of the demonstration facility is an important step forward in the commercialization of our cellulosic ethanol technology. This acquisition was challenging but worth the effort given the strategic advantages this plant provides GeoSynFuels. We are very excited about entering this next stage of our technology development,” said Todd Harvey, President and CEO of GeoSynFuels.
GSF’s 5CS Technology is projected to enable the cost competitive production of cellulosic ethanol and allow GSF to play a part in displacing greenhouse gas generating transportation fuels. The 5CS Technology provides a plug-and-play ethanol package to existing biomass aggregators such as sugar cane processors, biomass-to-energy facilities and pulp mills, allowing them to realize new co-product revenues from the production of cellulosic ethanol.
The 5CS Technology derives its advantage by extracting and converting into ethanol only the hemicellulose portion of the biomass while leaving the feedstock relatively unaltered and suitable for their original obligated use. The core of the 5CS Technology is its proprietary fermentation platform which enables the conversion of five carbon sugars into economically viable ethanol. The platform represents a significant advance in fermentation technology and has the potential to play a key role in a variety of applications including the hosting of designer microbes for the production of alternative advanced biofuels and biochemicals. “This acquisition brings two significant benefits to GSF, as we not only get to prove our cellulosic ethanol technology as a package, but we also now have a facility in which to demonstrate the potential of our fermentation platform at scale for a variety of alternative applications and products,” said Dr Harvey.
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