Oxford Catalysts Group plc - Waste-to-energy strategic alliance to deliver royalty income
07 Jan 2008
Highlights
• Strategic Alliance Agreement with Novus
Energy, to develop and
deploy technology for the production of
second-generation fuel-grade alcohols
from organic wastes
• Strategic Alliance delivers a royalty
income to Oxford Catalysts
based on sales of fuel-grade alcohols
• Oxford Catalysts projects revenues of
up to £100,000 in 2008 from
Strategic Alliance
• When Novus Energy starts to bring its
full-scale facilities
on-stream, Oxford Catalysts' royalty
income expected to average up to
$750,000 p.a. per facility
• Novus Energy forecasts its first
full-scale facility to be
operational in 2009-2010, and to roll out
dozens of facilities over the
following five years
Oxford Catalysts Group PLC, the leading catalyst innovator for clean fuels, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Strategic Alliance Agreement with Novus Energy, LLC, a Minneapolis-based renewable fuels company, to develop technology for the production of second-generation fuel-grade alcohols from organic wastes.
The Companies will pool their expertise and proprietary technologies to design and deploy on-site units for the processing of organic wastes into fuel-grade alcohols. Both Companies are currently working together under contract to design and build a pilot plant unit which will demonstrate the operation of the combined technologies during the first half of 2008.
The Alliance provides funding for Oxford Catalysts to further develop key steps of the process, and to design subsequent large-scale facilities. Once these plants come on stream, Oxford Catalysts will earn a royalty income based on sales revenue of fuel-grade alcohols from each unit.
Novus Energy has announced plans to roll out dozens of on site
facilities in the US over a period of five years or so, designed to
deliver clean, locally produced and supplied renewable fuels. Novus
Energy is also planning to introduce the technology into Europe,
where a similar number of facilities are also planned. According to
the Strategic Alliance Agreement, Oxford Catalysts' role in these
plans is projected to generate revenues of up to £100,000 in
2008, rising to an average of up to $750,000 p.a. royalty income
per facility
(depending on the market price for fuel-grade alcohols at the time)
once the full-scale on site units come on stream, with the first
such unit expected in 2009-2010.
Fuel-grade alcohols can be made from specially grown crops, such
as sugar cane and corn, but these first-generation bio-fuels
consume significant amounts of water, land and energy in their
production. Not only do they result in a limit reduction of carbon
footprint, they also compete with food production leading to
unfortunate consequences for food prices worldwide. In contrast,
second-generation bio-fuels, such as those which will be produced
by the Strategic Alliance, use organic waste instead, converting it
on site into
fuel-grade alcohols that are clean, green and truly
sustainable.
Novus Energy's core product, fuel-grade ethanol, can be efficiently produced from the organic waste generated by a variety of food and agricultural processors, landfills and municipal wastewater treatment plants. Novel, patented, anaerobic bio-digester technology applied to the processing of the waste at such sites will produce large volumes of methane-rich biogas, which will then be converted into feedstock for Novus Energy's novel, patented alcohol production technology.
Oxford Catalysts' technology will provide key links between the biogas generation and the alcohol synthesis steps.
Roy Lipski, Chief Executive of Oxford Catalysts, said: "We are delighted to be partnering with Novus Energy, who bring complementary technology and expertise to this exciting and innovative waste-to-energy alliance. Together we will address the rapidly growing need for truly renewable, clean, sustainable transport fuels, and share in the significant revenue potential which this opportunity presents."
John Offerman, President and Chief Technology Officer of Novus Energy, said: "In choosing a catalyst technology company to collaborate with us to develop the challenging core processes in our RGL (Renewable Gas-to-Liquid TM) technology, Novus Energy needed a partner that was both innovative and responsive to our specific needs. Oxford Catalysts, we found, was the only company that met those criteria. We look forward to a long and fruitful working relationship with them."
For further information, please contact:
Roy Lipski, CEO, Oxford
Catalysts
01235 841 700
John Offerman, President, Novus
Energy
00 1 952 224 0405
Jonathan Marren / Oliver Stratton, KBC Peel
Hunt 020 7418 8990
(Nomad and Broker)
Billy Clegg / Jonathon Brill, Financial
Dynamics 020 7831
3113
Notes to Editors
Oxford Catalysts Group PLC, the leading catalyst innovator for
clean fuels, designs and develops specialty catalysts for the
generation of clean fuels from both conventional fossil fuels and
certain renewable sources such as biomass. Its patent-pending
technology is the result of almost 20 years of research at the
University of Oxford's prestigious Wolfson Catalysis Centre, headed
by Professor Malcolm Green, one of the world's most respected
inorganic chemists. Oxford Catalysts was founded by Professor Green
and Dr Xiao in October 2004 and was admitted to trading on the AIM
market of the London Stock Exchange on 26th April 2006, having
raised £15m before expenses from a solid base of
institutional investors.
Oxford Catalysts' strategy is to license its catalysts for commercial application by entering into co-development partnerships with leading manufacturers, producers and suppliers in the petroleum, petrochemicals, fuel cells, biogas, steam applications and catalysis markets.
Oxford Catalysts has two key platform technologies. The first is
for a novel class of catalysts made from metal carbides which, for
certain reactions, can match or exceed the benefits of traditional
precious metal catalysts at a lower cost. Applications of these
metal-carbide catalysts include the removal of sulphur from crude
oil fractions (known as hydro-desulphurisation or HDS), the
conversion of natural gas or coal into virtually sulphur-free
liquid fuels via the Fischer-Tropsch reaction (known as the GTL and
CTL processes respectively), and the transformation of biogas
(waste methane) into syngas - the
building block of liquid fuels.
The second platform relates to chemical reactions involving a liquid containing a renewable fuel, such as methanol, ethanol or glycerol, and dilute hydrogen peroxide. The company's novel catalyst can be used to release hydrogen gas from this liquid, instantaneously starting from room temperature. This groundbreaking Instant Hydrogen technology has the potential to significantly accelerate the commercial adoption of fuel cells in the portable and other mobile markets, by providing the much needed source of cheap, safe, transportable hydrogen.
Another of the company's catalysts can be used to produce steam at temperatures between 100oC and 800oC+ instantaneously starting from room temperature, from a liquid fuel containing dilute hydrogen peroxide and either an alcohol, sugar, glycerol, starch or formic acid. Such Instant Steam could have important applications in a broad range of markets, from cleaning and disinfecting, to green energy in the form of motive power or electricity.
About Novus Energy
Novus Energy, LLC, a Minnesota (U.S.A.) renewable fuels
development company, was organized in 2004 to design, fabricate and
rollout high-yield fuel-grade alcohol facilities, using organic
waste materials as the fuel feedstock. The Company's proprietary
process generates methane-rich biogas from advanced anaerobic
digestion methods, and converts the biogas to ethanol and higher
alcohols using a novel renewable gas-to-liquid (RGLTM) process. The
company currently has contracts to build refineries at a North
Dakota sugar beet processor, a Minneapolis landfill, at an Idaho
potato plant, and at an Iowa site converting farm corn stover and
hog waste. The first full-scale facility is expected to be
operational in 2009-2010.
