29th Feb 2008 07:01
Pursuit Dynamics PLC29 February 2008 29 February 2008 Pursuit Dynamics plc ("Pursuit Dynamics" or "the Company") Pursuit Dynamics signs up first bioethanol plant Pursuit Dynamics plc (AIM: PDX), the developer and exploiter of the PDX platformtechnology, is pleased to announce it has signed an agreement with PacificEthanol, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEIX), a leading US-based producer of low carbon ethanol,to install a full scale production version of its PDX Ethanol Reactor Tower ('ERT') at Pacific Ethanol's facility in North East Oregon, USA. The PDX bioethanol system achieved a 14% increase in bioethanol yield whencompared to existing methods of production at a US-based pilot plant in December2007, whilst reducing overall fermentation time by over 20%. The system has alsobeen specifically developed to be retrofittable to existing bioethanolproduction facilities. The agreement with Pacific Ethanol has been structured such that both partieswork together during a 90 day trial period, followed by a 180 day optimisationperiod, to confirm the mix of benefits previously demonstrated by the PDXtechnology. The agreement envisages revenues based on a percentage of benefitsachieved, which become payable in the period following the successful completionof the 90 day trial. Based on results to date, the PDX ERT system has the potential to have amulti-million dollar positive impact annually on a plant of this size. Pursuit Dynamics expects to ship the PDX bioethanol system in March 2008 and fitit at Pacific Ethanol's Boardman, Oregon plant with the trial period commencingby June 2008. The Boardman plant has been operating since August 2007 and hasthe capacity to produce 40 million gallons of bioethanol annually. The US bioethanol industry is rapidly growing and production in 2007 was 6.5billion gallons from 139 bioethanol refineries. A further 4 billion gallons ofcapacity is expected to come online in 2008. With feedstock price increasesexpected to continue, the Company believes there is significant demand forcommercially available technologies which have been proven to significantlyincrease yield per bushel of corn. Commenting on the agreement, John Heathcote, CEO of Pursuit Dynamics said: "Thesigning of this agreement represents the first stage of the commercialisationprocess of the PDX bioethanol system and is the culmination of more than twoyears work. "Pursuit Dynamics has been working closely with Pacific Ethanol over the past 12months and, with their reputation for innovation and technical excellence, theyare the ideal launch partners for us and we look forward to delivering themaximum possible bottom-line benefit to them through the application of ourtechnology. Based on the high level of interest in our bioethanol system todate, we expect to commence our commercial roll-out programme immediatelyfollowing the trial period. "In parallel, we are moving forwards to address other related opportunities in2008, such as the European bioethanol and global grain spirit markets, as wellas accelerating our cellulosic ethanol programme." Neil Koehler, CEO of Pacific Ethanol, said: "We are excited by the potential ofthis technology to further enhance the efficiency of our production facilities.Pacific Ethanol is committed to leading the industry with a cutting edge plantnetwork and this is exactly the kind of step-change process to deliverheightened benefits to both our shareholders and the environment." The production-scale PDX Ethanol Reactor Tower is a 5.7 metre high, 1,050kgin-line system installed between existing slurry and liquefaction tanks. Theprocess is entirely physical, with no additional chemicals required. For Further Information, please contact: Pursuit Dynamics John Heathcote, Chief Executive Tel: +44 (0)1480 422050 Redleaf Communications Emma Kane / Paul Dulieu / Richard Girling Tel: +44 (0) 20 7822 0200 Cenkos Securities plc Ian Soanes Tel: +44 (0)20 7397 8924 Notes to Editors By way of background, in 2006 Pursuit commenced an intensive research programmeto enhance ethanol yields in the pre-treatment stage of conventional (starch toethanol) bioethanol production by using modified PDX reactors. By September 2006yield equivalents considerably in excess of those produced by currenttechnologies were being achieved. To give some insight into the scale of theprogramme undertaken by Pursuit at its Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire facilityduring 2006 and 2007, the trial series covered almost 500 individual trial runsduring which 3,500 samples were taken for analysis. The programme employed tenof our personnel on a full time basis for its duration. In December 2007 thesystem was successfully tested at a respected independent pilot facility in theUS Midwest. • In 2007, the 139 operating bioethanol plants in the US reached an annualized capacity of over 7.8 billion gallons. In 2008, a further 4 billion gallons of capacity will come online from 68 refineries under construction or expanding. With the completion of existing construction projects the US bioethanol industry will have a capacity in excess of 13 billion gallons, or almost 10% of the nation's gasoline demand. (source: Renewable Fuels Association 2008, www.ethanolrfa.org) • Pursuit Dynamics PLC (AIM: PDX) owns and commercialises the PDX fluid processing reactor whose benefits include significant reductions in energy usage, process acceleration and result enhancement for industries such as Food & Drink, Brewing, Fire Suppression, Decontamination and bioethanol production. • Pursuit Dynamics is headquartered in Huntingdon, UK and has an office in Norwalk, Connecticut, USA. Pursuit Processing Equipment Limited, the processing equipment division of Pursuit Dynamics, operates from its own facility in Brooklands, Surrey, UK. • Further information is available at the Company's website: www.pursuitdynamics.com • Publication quality photographs are available from Redleaf Communications. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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