Lignol Energy Corporation (TSX-V: LEC) has entered into a Cellulosic Ethanol Project Development Agreement with Suncor Energy Products Inc., a subsidiary of Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX, NYSE: SU).
As part of this Agreement, Suncor has agreed to assist Lignol with certain preliminary development work for the previously announced commercial demonstration cellulosic ethanol facility to be located in Grand Junction, Colorado. The Agreement also provides that the Parties negotiate a comprehensive joint venture arrangement to progress the development of Lignol’s technology from the pilot plant stage, to the commercial demonstration plant stage through to the ultimate commercial deployment of the technology. While neither Party has an obligation to enter into the Joint Venture, the Parties hope to complete the Joint Venture on or before January 15, 2009.
According to a release, the Joint Venture may include a series of gated and milestone driven investments by Suncor towards the commercial demonstration cellulosic ethanol facility. Suncor likely would have a controlling interest in the Joint Venture.
"We are delighted to continue working closely with Suncor on the scale-up of this next generation biofuels technology. Suncor’s experience in pioneering process technologies within the liquid transportation fuels sector, coupled with their expertise in deploying world scale energy projects, will be a tremendous asset in taking our technology through its evolution from pilot to commercial scale," said Ross MacLachlan, President and CEO of Lignol.
Suncor Energy Inc. is a significant investor in renewable energy in Canada, with more than $250 million invested to date in wind energy and biofuels.
Lignol has completed construction of its industrial-scale biorefinery pilot plant in Burnaby, B.C. and is currently completing a staged plant commissioning process. Once fully commissioned, Lignol will move ahead with scheduled trials to optimize current engineering designs for commercial scale plants.
Lignol will also accelerate work underway with companies seeking to evaluate their leading-edge enzymes and novel organisms in an industrial setting. The facility is expected to have a production capacity of 100,000 litres of ethanol per year and will be one of only a few fully integrated cellulosic ethanol biorefineries currently operating in the world.
About Lignol
Lignol (TSX-V: LEC) is a Canadian company undertaking the development of biorefining technologies for the production of fuel-grade ethanol and other biochemical co-products from non-food cellulosic biomass feedstocks. Lignol’s modified solvent based pre-treatment technology, originally developed by a former affiliate of General Electric, and then further developed and commercialized for wood-pulp applications by a subsidiary of Repap Enterprises Inc., facilitates the rapid, high-yield conversion of cellulose to ethanol and the production of value-added biochemical co-products, including HP-L(TM). Lignol is executing on its development plan through strategic partnerships to further develop and integrate the core technologies on a commercial scale. Lignol also intends to invest in, or otherwise obtain, equity interests in energy related projects which have synergies with its biorefining technology.
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