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Cellulosic n-butanolCo-production of n-butanol and
derivatives at biomass plants and pulp mills
Rick Wilson, PhDChief Executive Officer
Confidential 2
Approach: Fermentation to n-butanol integrated with biomass facilities
Addressing large existing high-value chemical and derivatives markets
Significant cost advantage vs. petroleum with low-cost waste biomass
Capital light enabled by bioreactor technology & co-location
Co-location with biomass power, pellet plants, sugar mills, pulp mills
470,000 GPY demonstration unit under construction
Cobalt Snapshot
Confidential 3
Approach: Fermentation with Biomass Processing
Bioreactors
Electricity
Distillation
Biomass
ConditioningExtraction &
Hydrolysis
Power Generation
ButanolC5 Sugars Clean
Sugars Broth
Low EnergyLow OPEX
Continuous High Rate & Yield
Low Capital
Phase ILignin
C6 Sugars
Steam & Electric
Acetone (minor)
Bolt On
Glycerol (C3)
Phase IIC6 Sugars Future Lignin to
Deployment Partner
Bagasse
EnergyC5 Sugars
Specialty Pulp Mill PartnerBiomass Power Partner
Biodiesel Partner
Confidential 4
$250B
Jet Fuel
High Value Chemical & Derivative Markets
N-Butanol OXO Derivatives Butene Derivatives
KeyParticipants
Chemical End Uses
ProductsAcetates
Acrylates
Glycol Ethers
2-Ethyl Hexanol
N-Butyraldehyde
Butyric Acid
LLDPE
Valderaldehyde
Polybutene
Isobutene
Butadiene
Market Size &Avg Sales Price
$7B $9B $5B $12B
Market Potential: Chemicals ($33B) & Fuels ($2T)
Paints
Solvents
Acrylics
Amines
Plasticizers
Paint Dryers
Stabilizers
Preservatives
Plastics
Liquid Polymers
Ag Intermediate
Lube Additives
Synthetic Rubber
Polypropylene
ABS
Cumene
$1,040BFuels Markets
$2300/mt $2600/mt $1500/mt $1300/mt
$980B
Gasoline?
Diesel ?
Confidential 5
Feedstock Comparison
Disruptive Cost Advantage with Waste Cellulosic Feedstocks
~ Eighty Percent (80%) cost advantage
Confidential 6
Cost Advantage with Biomass Feedstocks
Confidential 7
Sugars Extraction
Acid Catalyzed Sugar Extraction
1.Autohydrolysis
2.Dilute Acid Hydrolysis
C5 C6
Catalyzed Sugar Extraction
1.Enzymatic Hydrolysis
2.Dilute Acid Hydrolysis
Phase II
To Fermentation To Fermentation
Phase I
Confidential 8
Low Production Cost with Cellulosic Feedstock
Utilizes all five and six carbon sugars found in biomass
Directed evolution strain technology for complete sugar utilization
Extensive strain library for hardwood, softwood, and bagasse
Focus on using five carbon hemicellulose
Confidential 9
Capital Efficient Using Cobalt Bioreactor Technology
Immobilized bio-films concentrate fermentation
Continuous process minimizes operating expense
Robust to fermentation inhibitors
No GMO containment costs
Cobalt Bioreactor
11 X scale down
Immobilized
StandardFermenter
Confidential 10
Piloted Technology: Extraction & Conditioning
Biomass Extraction20 dmt/day
Conditioning2 dmt/day
Confidential 11
Piloted Cobalt Technology
60 mlBatch
10 LBatch
1 L0.26 gal
1.3 #/day feed
Continuous
Pilot – 30 gal133 #/day
feedContinuous
14 RunsX 1 month
180 Runs320 Tests>24000 Tests
Improved Pilot154 gallons
267 #/day feed
10 Runs x 1 month
Confidential 12
Hemicellulose extraction – Method for Extracting Soluble Sugar Molecules from Biomass Material
Hydrolysate conditioning– Removal of Inhibitors to Microbial Fermentation from Cellulosic Hydrolysates
Bacterial strain improvement– Selection of Microbial Mutants to Increase Solvent and Inhibitor Tolerance
Bioreactor design and operation– Methods for Producing Butanol from Immobilized Product Tolerant Microorganisms
System design– Low energy distillation and energy integration
Key Technology
Confidential 13
Commercialization Timeline
Demo PlantDemo PlantBiomass Boiler470,000 GPY
Q1 2012ANNOUNCED SOON
Confidential 14
Deployment Options: Colocation
Co-location could be with a pulp mill, biomass power, or pellet operation
Power boiler is 25% of project capital cost
Waste water treating
Wood handling
Fiber basket
Permits
Confidential 15
Deployment Options: Pulp Mill Integration (VPP)
Hemicellulose pre-extraction in front of a Kraft Pulp mill
Recovers C5 sugars from recovery boiler
Fermentation of C5 sugars to ethanol or butanol
Works best with hardwood, limiting opportunity
Acetic acid recovery from hardwood extracts adds capital
Hemicellulose extraction impacts pulp quality
Limited quantities of recoverable sugars impairs facility size – diseconomies of scale
Confidential 16
Deployment Options
Re-purpose pulp mills (or co-locate)
Sugar cane bagasse power - 1.77 billion GPY (Brazil, India, China across 232 sites)
Wood biomass power and pellets - 1.14 billion GPY(US and Europe across 126 sites)
Specialty pulp mills – 274 million GPY(Global across 26 mills – Low CAPEX option)
Cane trash “straw” with C6 sugar technology - 4.60 billion GPY
Palm waste with C6 sugar technology - 4.11 billion GPY
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Cellulosic n-butanolCo-production of n-butanol and
derivatives at biomass plants and pulp mills
Rick Wilson, PhDChief Executive Officer