Veridium Announces Ethanol Technologies and Projects
Veridium Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: VRDM) today announced an update on its various ethanol projects.
Veridium owns several technologies that bring substantial benefits to the ethanol industry. These technologies increase the efficiency of ethanol production by increasing the amount of fuel produced while reducing operating costs and plant emissions.
Corn Oil Recycling
Dry mill ethanol producers convert starch from corn into ethanol. The by-product of this process contains the fat from the corn and exits the back of the production process. Veridium's patented technology economically recovers up to 75% of the fat from this by-product and converts it into pure corn oil which can either be sold as-is or for conversion into biodiesel. This corresponds to 3 million gallons per year of high grade corn oil converts to 3 million gallons per year of biodiesel. This equates to a 6% increase in fuel production out of a 50 million gallon per year ethanol facility, and a significant increase in plant productivity out of the plant's existing infrastructure.
Veridium provides turn-key systems for this technology for no up-front cost in return for long-term corn oil purchase agreements based on a fixed discount to prevailing market prices. Veridium intends to purchase and sell the extracted corn oil and generate an estimated $1.4 million to $1.8 million in annualized revenues per system as the systems are brought online.
Veridium previously announced eight orders with ethanol producers for deployments of various implementations of this technology to date and Veridium's target is to close a total of 20 such orders this year. Veridium expects to bring its first commercial systems based on this technology online later this year.
CO2 Exhaust to Ethanol
Veridium's bioreactor technology is simple, robust and scalable, and was originally designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fueled combustion processes. The technology is based on a new strain blue-green algae discovered thriving in a hot stream at Yellowstone National Park. The algae use the available carbon dioxide, water and light to grow new algae, giving off pure oxygen and water vapor in the process. Once the algae grow to maturity, they fall to the bottom of the bioreactor where the algae can be harvested for further refining several times per day.
Ethanol is made from starch-based feedstocks. The algae in the bioreactor convert exhaust carbon dioxide and sunlight into a biomass that is comprised of about 94% starch and about 6% oil. This exceeds the starch concentration in corn, the primary feedstock for domestic ethanol production today, which contains about 63% starch and 3-4% oil. The preliminary test data show a doubling of the biomass several times per day - a rate much faster than plants, and it does all of this on a footprint that is orders of magnitude less than the surface area required for crops.
Veridium's technology routes exhaust carbon dioxide from the fermentation stage of ethanol production facilities through a bioreactor that is designed to be integrated with existing ethanol facilities.
Veridium is currently building a small-scale mobile pilot system for sales and technical demonstration purposes, and Veridium's immediate focus for this technology is to deploy permanent commercial-scale pilot operations with qualified early adopters in the ethanol industry and in the power generation industry beginning this year.
Cellulosic Biomass to Energy
Veridium holds the rights to patented technologies that use ultrasonic energies to synthesize hydrogen and/or clean fuels from agricultural wastes, including cellulosic biomass.
This technology uses high intensity ultrasonic energies to enable a new type of hydrogen reformation that is capable of significantly reducing the scale at which hydrogen production is cost-effective. This reduction in scale is made possible by a demonstrated 25% reduction in the temperatures required to affect the reformation reaction as compared to standard steam reformation of natural gas (SRNG), and even greater gains as compared to partial oxidation processes (POX). In standard SRNG and POX processes, the reformation reaction is catalysed chemically. The Veridium process leverages mechanical processes to generate ultrasonic energies that in turn catalyse the reformation reaction at lower temperatures.
Initial testing on prototypes of this technology has demonstrated production of hydrogen-rich gases at small scales with varied carbonaceous feedstocks. Once converted, this hydrogen rich gas can be purified and used as a source of energy.
Veridium's focus for the technology this year will be to demonstrate and deploy a commercial-scale pilot version of the technology that converts discarded corn stalks and other cellulosic biomass into clean energy directly at and for ethanol facilities.
About Veridium Corporation
Veridium Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: VRDM) is a publicly traded industrial waste recycling company and holds the rights to more than a dozen proprietary universal processing, water purification, emissions control and waste recycling technologies.
Veridium's business model is based on the engineering and marketing of green innovations and processes that enhance manufacturing efficiencies, improve resource utilization and minimize waste. Veridium's mission is to deliver consumer oriented Natural Solutions(TM) based on an array of green technologies and applied engineering expertise that reduce waste at the source and make it easier for people and businesses to recycle and reuse resources. Veridium plans to focus on the continued acquisition, development and marketing of benchmark green technologies and products that accomplish the following key goals:
-- Reduce the volume of waste generated by residential and commercial consumers;
-- Increase the convenience and decrease the cost of recycling by residential and commercial consumers; and,
-- Increase the cost-efficiency of processing certain types of industrial wastes.
Veridium is about 70% owned by GreenShift Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GSHF), a publicly traded company whose mission is to develop and support companies and technologies that facilitate the efficient use of natural resources and catalyze transformational environmental gains.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Veridium Corporation, and members of their management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-statements include fluctuation of operating results, the ability to compete successfully and the ability to complete before-mentioned transactions. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.
Veridium Corporation Investor Relations: 888-870-9197 x 291 Fax: 646-792-2636 investorrelations@veridium.com www.veridium.com or CEOcast, Inc. for Veridium Andrew Hellman, 212-732-4300
Source: Business Wire (May 1, 2006 - 9:58 AM EDT)
News by QuoteMedia www.quotemedia.com |