(OTC Bulletin Board: VRDM)Veridium Receives Order from South African Ethanol Producer for Corn Oil Extraction Technology
NEW YORK--(Business Wire)--April 20, 2006--
Veridium Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: VRDM) today
announced its receipt of an order from Ethanol Africa for the use of
Veridium's patent-pending Corn Oil Extraction System(TM) at Ethanol
Africa's new Bothaville, South Africa ethanol production facility.
Veridium's proprietary new Corn Oil Extraction Systems(TM) extract
high grade corn oil from an ethanol by-product called distillers dried
grain ("DDG"). Veridium's technology has the capability of removing up
to 75% of the corn oil from within the DDG in two stages.
The first stage extracts 1.1 to 1.3 million gallons per year and
corresponds to about 30% of the corn oil in the DDG for a 40 million
gallon per year facility. The second stage of the Veridium technology
recovers another 30% to 45% of the corn oil in the DDG, corresponding
to another 1.2 to 2.2 million gallons of corn oil per year out of a 40
million gallon per year ethanol facility. 3 million gallons per year
of high grade corn oil converts to 3 million gallons per year of
biodiesel. This equates to a 7% increase in fuel production out of a
40 million gallon per year ethanol facility, and a significant
increase in plant productivity out of the plant's existing
infrastructure.
The new Ethanol Africa order is for the first stage of Veridium's
technology and the system is expected to be installed in line with the
onset of operations at Ethanol Africa's new Bothaville, South Africa
ethanol production facility later this year. Ethanol Africa is
headquartered in Bothaville, South Africa, and intends to build eight
40 million gallon per year ethanol production facilities.
"Rising fuel prices and greenhouse gas emissions are global
issues, and we are hopeful that this order will be our first of many
such international orders for our ethanol process technologies," said
David Winsness, chief executive officer of Veridium's industrial
design division. "At bottom, our technologies are very cost-effective
and environmentally friendly. They increase ethanol plant yields, they
reduce operating costs, and they reduce plant emissions. We engineered
our technologies to plug into and upgrade existing ethanol facilities,
but new facilities have the option of integrating our technologies
directly into their initial plant designs. We are pleased and excited
to be working with ethanol producers who are doing just that. Ethanol
Africa is progressive company and we are grateful for the opportunity
to work with them on their first and future ethanol facilities."
About Veridium's Corn Oil Extraction System(TM)
Currently, the majority of ethanol production is based on a dry
milling technique that utilizes more than 1 billion bushels of corn to
produce 3 billion gallons per year of ethanol (Fuel #1). The dry mill
process converts the starch from the kernel of corn into sugar and
then the sugar into ethanol. The balance of the corn (non-starch
components) then goes through a dewatering and dehydration process
where the byproduct is sold as a commercial feed ingredient called
distillers dried grain ("DDG"). DDG contains the majority of the corn
oil that was present in the kernel. Today, the 1 billion bushels of
corn currently used in the dry mill ethanol process contain roughly
300 million gallons of corn oil that is currently sold for about $0.03
per pound as commercial feed. The new Veridium technology presents
another option - cost effective conversion into Biodiesel (Fuel #2).
Veridium's Corn Oil Extraction System(TM) offers the following
compelling benefits for ethanol producers:
-- Low Operating Costs - the system requires less than $0.05 per
gallon of corn oil produced;
-- High Recovery Rates - the technology is capable of recovering
up to 75% of the corn oil within the DDG;
-- Increased Revenue - the corn oil extracted with Veridium's
technology is readily amenable to refining into biodiesel fuel
which creates a new revenue stream for participating ethanol
facilities;
-- Reduces Current Operating Costs and Emissions - Veridium's
technology improves the drying efficiency of the DDG which in
turn reduces overall plant operating costs and emissions; and,
-- Low Capital Cost - Veridium's oil extraction methods have a
capital cost of less than 15% of traditional corn oil
extraction methods.
Pictures and video of the new Veridium technology are available
online at www.veridium.com - this system is in use today and
efficiently recovers corn oil from concentrated thin stillage.
Veridium Corporation
Investor Relations, 888-870-9197 ext. 291
Fax: 646-792-2636
investorrelations@veridium.com
www.veridium.com
or
CEOcast, Inc. for Veridium
Ed Lewis, 212-732-4300
Copyright Business Wire 2006
20Apr06 11:30 GMT
Symbols:
us;VRDM
Source BW Business Wire
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