Second U.S. Patent Awarded and Exclusively Licensed to Aemetis by US Dept of Energy to Use Waste Forest Wood and Other Biomass to Produce High Value Biofuels

Patented technology extracts sugars from waste wood using ionic liquids to enable production of high value renewable fuels

CUPERTINO, CA, May 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTX) announced today the grant of a second patent for technology exclusively licensed to Aemetis that enables the production of low carbon intensity renewable fuels from waste wood feedstocks.  

U.S. Patent No. 2018/0346938 “High Gravity, Fed-Batch Ionic Liquid Based Process for Deconstructing Biomass” protects the use of ionic liquids to extract sugars from a wide variety of waste biomass, including forest and orchard wood.  This process is expected to provide up to a 90% reduction in feedstock cost and to increase the value of renewable fuels by significantly reducing carbon intensity.

“This recently patented ionic liquids technology was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Energy Commission during development by Sandia National Labs, the Joint Bioenergy Institute and Aemetis,” stated Goutham Vemuri, VP of Technology Development at Aemetis.  “The process enables waste wood to be used in two important ways as valuable feedstock: extracting sugar for conversion into cellulosic ethanol at our ethanol plant to generate an estimated $5 of revenue per gallon, and converting the remaining lignin into renewable hydrogen for the hydrotreatment of vegetable oils to produce low carbon intensity jet and diesel fuel.”

“Forest and orchard trees absorb CO2 along with solar energy and nutrients to grow,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis. “By using waste wood and other biomass, Aemetis is expanding the range of feedstocks that can be used in the production of high value renewable fuels that work with existing jet, diesel and flex-fuel engines,” McAfee noted. 

The first Aemetis Carbon Zero production plant — “Carbon Zero 1” — is scheduled for construction at the 140-acre Riverbank Industrial Complex in Central California, a former Army ammunition production facility with 710,000 square feet of existing production buildings.

The Carbon Zero 1 renewable jet and diesel plant and energy efficiency upgrades to the Aemetis ethanol plant include funding and other support from the USDA, the US Forest Service, the California Energy Commission, the California Department of Food and Agriculture, and PG&E.

About Aemetis

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Aemetis is a renewable natural gas, renewable fuel and biochemicals company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative technologies that replace petroleum-based products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Founded in 2006, Aemetis has completed Phase 1 and is expanding a California biogas digester network and pipeline system to convert dairy waste gas into Renewable Natural Gas (RNG).  Aemetis owns and operates a 65 million gallon per year ethanol production facility in California’s Central Valley near Modesto that supplies about 80 dairies with animal feed.  Aemetis also owns and operates a 50 million gallon per year production facility on the East Coast of India producing high quality distilled biodiesel and refined glycerin for customers in India and Europe.  Aemetis is developing the Carbon Zero renewable jet and diesel fuel integrated biorefineries in California to utilize distillers corn oil and other renewable oils to produce low carbon intensity renewable jet and diesel fuel using cellulosic hydrogen from waste orchard and forest wood, while pre-extracting cellulosic sugars from the waste wood to be processed into high value cellulosic ethanol at the Keyes plant.  Aemetis holds a portfolio of patents and related technology licenses to produce renewable fuels and biochemicals.  For additional information about Aemetis, please visit www.aemetis.com.

Safe Harbor Statement 

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events or other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements relating to the enforceability of patents, the development and construction of a sugar extraction plant, the construction and operation of the jet and diesel biorefinery in Riverbank, California, our compliance with governmental programs, and the ability to access markets and funding to execute our business plan.  Words or phrases such as “anticipates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “showing signs,” “targets,” “view,” “will likely result,” “will continue” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions and predictions and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties.  Actual results or events could differ materially from those set forth or implied by such forward-looking statements and related assumptions due to certain factors, including, without limitation, competition in the ethanol, biodiesel and other industries in which we operate, commodity market risks including those that may result from current weather conditions, financial market risks, customer adoption, counter-party risks, risks associated with changes to federal policy or regulation, and other risks detailed in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and in our subsequent filings with the SEC. We are not obligated, and do not intend, to update any of these forward-looking statements at any time unless an update is required by applicable securities laws.

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