Vertimass Named Winner of National Corn Growers Association Competition: "Consider Corn Challenge: New Uses for Field Corn as Feedstock for Making Sustainable Chemicals"

Vertimass' ethanol to renewable fuels and chemicals offers exceptional corn growth potential

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Mar 05, 2018, 09:00 ET

IRVINE, Calif., March 5, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The National Corn Growers Association named Vertimass LLC as one of six awardees of the "Consider Corn Challenge: New Uses for Field Corn as Feedstock for Making Sustainable Chemicals" Competition. This prestigious recognition was announced at the Commodity Classic, "Grow Beyond 2018," Conference in Anaheim, CA on February 28, 2018. Nine Sigma launched the competition in June 2017 with submissions evaluated by experts in the corn industry.

Vertimass believes their technology of converting sustainable ethanol into fungible gasoline, diesel, jet fuel blend stocks and the chemical building blocks benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX) can substantially increase corn demand in the US. This innovative technology eliminates the ethanol blend wall that currently limits ethanol use and allows for further expansion of renewable fuels and chemicals while maintaining a low greenhouse gas footprint.

"We are pleased to be recognized for this award as we believe our technology is game changing for the ethanol industry. We can now produce renewable fuels and chemicals from ethanol which offer greenhouse gas reductions instead of sourcing these fuels and chemicals from petroleum. We anticipate the first implementation of this technology will debottleneck existing facilities and increase capacity by 20-30 percent. Ultimately new plants will be constructed to take advantage of this technology. This new technology can conceivably double or triple the number of US corn ethanol plants, thereby significantly growing jobs and enhancing industrial growth," said Dr. John Hannon, chief operating officer of Vertimass.

According to Hannon, the new Vertimass technology is a low capital cost bolt-on that gives ethanol producers product flexibility. He added, "These systems can be inexpensively added to existing corn ethanol plants without disruption to existing operations and can provide the ability to shift to products that maximize profits in response to changes in market conditions. We look forward to working with ethanol producers to enhance their market opportunities."

"Vertimass continues to work with our scale-up partner TechnipFMC to further advance the technology and establish the technical platform from which commercial plants can be designed and constructed within the next 2 years," Vertimass president and CEO Dr. Charles Wyman noted. "This innovative technology will be fully applicable to conversion of ethanol from cellulosic biomass such as agricultural residues and dedicated energy crops and sugars into BTEX and hydrocarbon fuels as it is to corn ethanol."

Vertimass chairman Bill Shopoff also comments, "We are excited about the ability to grow the ethanol business, first by rapidly expanding the corn feedstock opportunities and ultimately working with cellulosic ethanol plants. With either process, the Vertimass solution offers the opportunity for enhanced GHG reductions."

About Vertimass LLC

Vertimass LLC is based in Irvine, Calif. The mission of Vertimass LLC is to develop and widely license breakthrough technologies that substantially expand the use of sustainable transportation fuels that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security and domestic economies. Commercialization will lead to the widespread use of proprietary Vertimass technology for low cost production of sustainable transportation fuels that can overcome the blend wall that currently impedes expansion of sustainable fuels production and open up new large fuel markets for aircraft and heavy duty vehicles from multiple sources of biomass. For more information, visit http://www.vertimass.com/

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