Virent earns Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award

[PRESS RELEASE]

EPA’s highest environmental award honors renewable BioForming® process for production of low carbon green gasoline and other hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals

Virent Energy Systems, Inc. has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. Virent’s BioForming process, a game-changing technology that economically transforms plant sugars into green gasoline, is the first to be honored in the award’s 14-year history for the clean manufacturing of liquid transportation fuels from biomass.

The Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards, selected by an independent panel of technical experts convened by the American Chemical Society, provide national recognition for outstanding chemical technologies that incorporate the principles of green chemistry across the product life cycle, including the design, manufacture, and use of chemical products. Each winner demonstrates a commitment to designing, developing, and implementing a green chemical technology that is scientifically innovative, economically feasible, and less hazardous to human health and the environment.

Virent’s winning BioForming technology converts abundant plant sugars from non-food and home grown sources into gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel hydrocarbon molecules previously refined only from petroleum. Virent’s fuels have the same molecular composition and performance as petroleum fuels and face no hurdles to full market penetration. They can be replacements for, or used at high blends with, petroleum fuels in today’s petroleum infrastructure.

“Virent is honored to be recognized by the EPA for its transformative technology that is both renewable and cost effective,” said Lee Edwards, CEO of Virent Energy Systems, Inc. "We believe Virent's technology platform offers a material opportunity to shift away from reliance on fossil fuel to renewable biomass. Our patented process makes gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and chemicals with low carbon intensity from a variety of feedstocks with substantial fossil fuel replacement potential." Virent’s energy efficient, exothermic process is carbon neutral, water positive, and has low life cycle emissions. It runs under moderate conditions and requires no external energy inputs. It yields 30 percent more net energy than corn ethanol processes due to the natural separation of gasoline from water.

“With low carbon emissions, a wide range of premium hydrocarbon products, and feedstock flexibility, the BioForming process offers a new biorefinery solution,” said Randy Cortright, Virent Founder and Chief Technical Officer. “We are deeply honored to receive this award for a technology that can help address the pressing environmental and energy security concerns of our nation while providing farmers who grow a broad variety of crops more value per acre of land.”

About Virent Energy Systems

Virent’s BioForming process is a recognized leader in advanced biofuels technologies, winning numerous technology and innovation awards including the World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer, ICIS Innovation, and Red Herring 100 North America awards.Headquartered in Madison, WI, Virent has 80 employees in a state of the art catalytic biorefining development facility. Virent counts Cargill and Honda among its leading investors and collaborates with Honda and Royal Dutch Shell on the development of its biogasoline technology. The BioForming technology is based on the Aqueous Phase Reforming process.