BROOKINGS, S.D., August 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- VeraSun Energy Corporation , one of the nation's largest ethanol producers, today announced it has made a minority investment in SunEthanol, a Massachusetts- based company working to commercialize proprietary cellulosic ethanol production technology. SunEthanol currently has a patent-pending process that consolidates multiple steps into one efficient and naturally-occurring process utilizing a variety of agricultural feed stocks to produce ethanol.
"SunEthanol has unique technology that if proven to be commercially feasible will be a positive step forward for cellulosic ethanol. " said Bill Honnef, VeraSun Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing. "While we believe corn-based ethanol production will continue to play a key role in our industry long into the future, ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks will complement corn- based ethanol in meeting the growing global demand for renewable fuels. We continue to evaluate technologies that have the potential to efficiently convert cellulose to biofuels."
SunEthanol was recently formed by a team of entrepreneurs in Amherst, Mass. The company's patent-pending, consolidated bio-processing (CBP) technology is being tested on multiple feedstocks. Dr. Susan Leschine is a company founder and the Chief Scientist at SunEthanol. Leschine originally discovered the unique CBP technology.
"We are delighted to have one of the nation's leading producers of ethanol as an investor," said Jef Sharp, SunEthanol's CEO. "Together, we hope to help shape the nation's cellulosic ethanol future. We believe there are strong synergies between our two organizations that will enable us to accelerate the pace of commercialization of this new technology."
In addition to VeraSun's investment, SunEthanol also secured financing for the development of its technology through Battery Ventures. Battery Ventures has been investing in technology and innovation worldwide since 1983 and currently manages approximately $3 billion in committed capital.
About VeraSun Energy Corporation
VeraSun Energy Corporation , headquartered in Brookings, South Dakota, is committed to be a leading producer of renewable fuel. The Company has three operating ethanol production facilities located in Aurora, SD, Fort Dodge, IA, and Charles City, IA, with three facilities under construction in Hartley, IA, Welcome, MN and Reynolds, IN. VeraSun is in the process of acquiring another three biorefineries currently under construction in Albion, NE, Bloomingburg, OH and Linden, IN. Upon completion of the new facilities and those being acquired, VeraSun will have an annual production capacity of approximately one billion gallons by the end of 2008. The Company also has plans to extract oil from dried distillers grains, a co-product of the ethanol process, for use in biodiesel production.
The Company markets E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline for use in Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs), directly to fuel retailers under the brand VE85(TM). VE85(TM), the first-ever branded E85, is now available at more than 90 retail locations. For more information, please visit VeraSun's Web sites at http://www.verasun.com/ or http://www.ve85.com/.
About SunEthanol
SunEthanol, Inc., headquartered in Amherst, Massachusetts, is a biofuels technology company with a proprietary process for converting biomass to ethanol fuel. SunEthanol's process has the potential to simplify and consolidate the costliest aspects of current biomass-to-ethanol technology. SunEthanol is currently partnering with industry and R&D leaders to develop and implement this technology platform. For more information please visit SunEthanol's website at http://www.sunethanol.com/
