Sundrop Fuels, Inc.

Privately-held Sundrop Fuels is a globally-focused bio-based fuel and chemicals company, with headquarters in Longmont, Colorado.  The company is building what will be the world’s single-largest biogasoline production facility, located near Alexandria, Louisiana.  Sundrop Fuels’ inaugural plant will incorporate its proprietary high-temperature Sundrop BioReforming Reactor system, which transforms cellulosic biomass from almost any type of plant material into affordable, renewable fuels for immediate use in today’s automobiles, diesel engines and aircraft. The technology is also well-suited for the production of bio-based chemicals, from biomass alone and with natural gas or other carbon feedstocks. In a world where it is increasingly critical to combine fuel supply security, economic stability and environmental stewardship, Sundrop Fuels provides an elegant and commercially viable solution that is as timely as it is innovative.

Future full-scale biorefineries will also annually produce more than 200 million gallons (more than 600,000 tonnes) of fuel that is fully compatible with fuel industry quality standards and available at an unsubsidized cost of about $2 per gallon (~$0.53 per liter). For emerging global markets, the scalability of the Sundrop Fuels process allows for smaller, efficient facilities as required to match local feedstock conditions. As importantly, the Sundrop Fuels biofuels production path significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions as compared to conventional petroleum processes. Every gallon of Sundrop Fuels drop-in cellulosic advanced biofuel – or biogasoline – has been produced with at least 60% less life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions as compared to petroleum fuel.  As such, the biogasoline will generate RIN credits under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Internationally, this also enables Sundrop Fuels to comply with important local clean energy and fuel standards. In addition, the biomass feedstocks used in the Sundrop Fuels process come not from food crops but from sustainable timber, energy crop plantations and agricultural wastes.

History

• December 2015 I Sundrop Fuels begins commissioning and operation of its Integrated BioReforming Demonstration Facility (IBDF) at the company’s headquarters in Longmont, Colorado.
• March 2015 I Sundrop Fuels receives approval for Part 1 of its application for a US Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee. If ultimately approved the guarantee will provide financing to build the company’s first commercial plant, located near Alexandria, Louisiana. Once completed and full operational, the Sundrop Fuels facility will represent the single largest bio-gasoline production plant in the world.
• January 2015 I Sundrop Fuels begins expansion of its advanced R&D laboratory and simulation facility at its Longmont, Colorado headquarters, including a new fully integrated pilot plant system. The facility is capable of testing a wide variety of feedstocks from around the world.
• August 2014 I Sundrop Fuels begins testing of its high-temperature BioReforming Reactor at its newly constructed testing facilities at the Energy and Environmental Resource Center (EERC) in North Dakota.
• April 2014 I Sundrop Fuels expands plans to build biofuels plants globally, with focus on Asia and North America. Perry Smith joins the company as SVP and Managing Director for the Asia Pacific, bringing 40 years of senior-level experience with multinational Asian corporations.
• March 2014 | Sundrop Fuels President and CEO Dr. Wayne Simmons is re-elected as Board Chairman of the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA), an influential industry coalition working to advance America’s transformation to a low-carbon economy.
• June 2013 |Sundrop Fuels begins engineering of a new process unit for large-scale demonstration of its high-temperature BioReforming Reactor at the Energy and Enviromental Resource Center(EERC) in North Dakota.
• March 2013 | Sundrop Fuels President and CEO, Dr. Wayne Simmons is named Board Chairman of the Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA).
• February 2013 | Sundrop Fuels acquires 1,213 acres off Interstate 49 northwest of Alexandria in Boyce, Louisiana for the company’s inaugural facility. When operational, the plant will produce 15,000 barrels per day, marking the first phase in Sundrop Fuels’ path toward becoming a large-scale provider of renewable, drop-in biogasoline.
• December 2012 | Sundrop Fuels purchases the 27.5-acre property, formerly known as “Cowboy Town,” adjacent to its future Louisiana biogasoline production facility, which will be used for the company’s regional headquarters, a new research laboratory and a biomass feedstock warehouse facility.
• June 2012 | Sundrop Fuels announces a licensing agreement to use ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company’s Methanol to Gasoline (MTG) technology.
• November 2011 | Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal joins Sundrop Fuels in announcing the selection of a site near Alexandria, Louisiana for the company’s first planned production facility.
• July 2011 | Sundrop Fuels announces a $155 million strategic investment by Chesapeake Energy Company and an additional $20 million investment from Oak Investment Partners.
• September 2009 | Sundrop Fuels begins operation of its first large-scale pilot plant, processing up to 1 ton of biomass per day.
• June 2008 | Sundrop Fuels acquires Copernican Energy, Inc., a University of Colorado technology transfer spinoff.
• 2008 | Sundrop Fuels raises founding capital via Amp Capital. Shortly thereafter Sundrop Fuels raises $20 million from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Oak Capital Partners.

HOW IT WORKS

• Sundrop Fuels has developed a unique, non-grinding biomass preparation process that converts any type of wet biomass, whether wood, wood residues, energy grasses, rice hulls or other types of agricultural wastes, into a homogenous powder form. This creates a consistent, highly reactive feedstock, regardless of its initial form, for processing in the Sundrop Fuels conversion technology.
• In the next step, this pre-processed feedstock advances into the Sundrop Fuels proprietary BioReforming system where the biomass is converted into ultra-clean synthesis gas.
• The resulting synthesis gas then moves into the downstream portion of the Sundrop Fuels plant where it is efficiently converted into finished gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel or other chemicals ready for direct sale to the market. This step is accomplished using well-established, commercially proven, licensed technologies. End products will be selected based on supply-demand situations in the secific plant location.

NATURAL GAS: THE USA RENEWABLE BIOFUELS MULTIPLIER

For plants in the USA, Sundrop Fuels’ innovative advanced biofuels production method underscores the role of America’s abundant natural gas supply toward achieving the nation’s renewable energy goals.   Advanced biofuels production has historically been limited because plant material feedstock has generally about a one-to-one ratio of hydrogen-to-carbon, while gasoline used in today’s combustion engines must have twice as much hydrogen as carbon.  To correct this imbalance, many other biofuels processes simply do not utilize one-third of these renewable carbons, rejecting them as carbon dioxide into the air.   Sundrop Fuels, however, resolves the imbalance not by throwing away renewable carbon, but by adding hydrogen to the production process.  The supplemental hydrogen feedstock is obtained from abundant, clean-burning natural gas using a traditional steam methane reforming process.   Because the company adds hydrogen to the renewable biomass being converted in its ultra-high temperature BioReforming reactor, virtually one hundred percent of all the carbon in the plant material is converted into biogasoline.  The process generates extremely low amounts of CO2 or tar.   In addition, Sundrop Fuels’ biogasoline contains more than 30 percent higher energy value than a gallon of ethanol, while increasing the market value of natural gas.

RENEWABLE ADVANCED BIOFUELS

Sundrop Fuels technology provides for complete flexibility to produce any type of renewable, liquid advanced biofuel, from biobased “green gasoline” to diesel and aviation fuels. These clean “drop-in” biofuels are fully compatible with today’s engines, pipelines and distribution infrastructure. In addition, these biofuels create immediate benefits for both consumers and the environment: A gallon of renewable gasoline contains more than 30 percent more energy value than a gallon of ethanol, while significantly reducing the amount greenhouse gas emissions compared to petroleum fuels.  Our process creates the highest fuel energy yield per ton of biomass of all biofuels processes. Patented Sundrop Fuels BioReforming technology can produce twice as much as conventional gasification processes as well as biochemical-based processes typically used to produce cellulosic ethanol on an energy equivalent basis.  When completed, a single Sundrop Fuels biorefinery will efficiently produce more than 200 million gallons of transportation fuel annually. We will replicate biorefinery units in targeted areas, creating a capability of producing more than a billion gallons annually by 2025 – more than five percent of the nation’s goal to produce 22 billion gallons of advanced renewable fuels by this point.  Sundrop Fuels has completed a successful progression of scale-up activities. These include laboratory-scale demonstrations, a pilot plant facility that was operational from 2009 to 2011, and a process demonstration facility now in operation at North Dakota’s Energy and Environmental Research Center.   The company’s next commercial biorefinery fuels plant is current in engineering design stage and planned for completion by 2020.  The production facility will produce more than 200 million gallons of fuel per year.