Dan Verser, Co-Founder, ZeaChem

Entrepreneur Trek - Stanford March 21, 2009

Venture Backed Startup
Founded in 1998: Two Guys in a Pickup
A Round 2006: Established Lab in Menlo Park: Two VC Firms
B Round 2008: 4 VC Firms
Strategic Partners
25 People: Menlo Park, Denver
ZeaChem

3 rd Generation Cellulosic Ethanol
Demonstration of Technology
Lab
Pilot
Demonstration Plant
Commercialization
New Products
ZeaChem’s Business

Why Renewable Based Fuels?
145 Billion Gallon Gasoline Market in U.S.
Energy Security from Domestic Resources
Ethanol offers Advantages as a Component of Gasoline Pool
Renewable Based
Easily Transportable Liquid Fuel
Compatible with Gasoline
High Energy Content and High Octane
Compatible with Existing Automobile Technology
~6.0 Billion Gallons Today

Ethanol’s Problems Using Legacy Technology
Poor Economics - Requires Subsidy
Questionable Environmental Performance - Requires Almost as Much Non-renewable Energy to Produce as It Contains - ER = 1.3
Limited Expensive Raw Material Resource for the Current Technology – Corn
“ Food vs Fuel” & Indirect Land Use

Cellulosic Ethanol & One Approach to Solve the Problem at One Level

ZeaChem Process Flow Feedstock Ethanol Hydrogenolysis Fermentation + Recovery Gasification = H 2 Recovery + Energy Acetate Ester Hydrogen

How does it Fit into the Rest of the World? The Value Chain

Raw Material

The US sweetener industry

Large, Liquid Available Woody Feedstock Market
Viewed favorably with respect to “food vs. fuel” debate
Taking advantage of increasingly liquid & transparent timberlands market
Forest acreage generally large corporate farms
Located closer to end user markets & transportation infrastructure

Woody Feedstock Reliability
Hybrid poplar trees chosen as 1 st feedstock
Commercially grown in established forests
Fast growing
Significant yield enhancement possible
1 st Biorefinery co-located with existing GreenWood Resources (GWR) tree farm
Partnered with GWR, an established leader in hybrid poplar tree farming
Co-location minimizes inbound freight
Saw Log or Pulp Chip Management Biofuels Management

Tomorrow’s Energy Farm
Plant 1,500 trees/acre
Wait 3 years
Continuous harvest with combine
Transport to refinery with no further transfers
No replanting required: coppice system
Re-sprouts from stump
CONFIDENTIAL

Poplar Trial Aerial View
A composite shot using remote control camera mounted on helium balloon
Variety of responses to soil conditions very apparent from above

Is There Enough Land?

Technology Can Solve “Food vs. Fuel” Debate Technology will Provide ~10X Improvement in Land Productivity! Enables 30% Renewable Fuels from Current Lands ZeaChem + Auto Eff. 15 BDT/ac/yr 135 gal/BDT 25 mi/gal 50,625 mi/ac/yr 1 st Gen Cellulosic 7.5 BDT/ac/yr 90 gal/BDT 14 mi/gal 9,450 mi/ac/yr Farm Yield Factory Yield Auto Eff. Land Prod. Corn Ethanol 150 Bu/ac/yr 2.7 gal/bu 14 mi/gal 5,670 mi/ac/yr ZeaChem 15 BDT/ac/yr 135 gal/BDT 14 mi/gal 28,350 mi/ac/yr

Environmental Performance

Energy Yield

CO 2 Footprint Comparison ZeaChem Biomass Corn Dry Mill Total CO 2e : 1.45 lb/gal Total CO 2e : 12.54 lb/gal

Potential Product Portfolio Cellulosic Biomass
Two Fundamental Alternatives
Change organism
Change downstream chemistry
ZeaChem’s Technology
C3 Chain
Lactic Acid
Propylene Glycol
Acrylic Acid & Esters
Propionic Acid
Propylene
Methacrylic Acid & Esters
C2 Chain
Acetic Acid
Ethyl Acetate
Ethanol
Ethylene
Ethylene Glycol
C4 Chain
Butanol
C6 Chain
Hexanol
Hexene
Current Platform

Some Lessons
Persist
Build on Your Experience
Have a Team
Focus on What You do Best
The Business is Bigger than Your Company
Timing

Questions & Discussion

http://algaedieseltrm.blogspot.com	19
http://www.slideshare.net	1
http://algaedieseltrm.blogspot.com.au	1

Dan Verser, Co-Founder, ZeaChem

by EntrepreneurTrek on Mar 23, 2009

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 21

Statistics

Dan Verser, Co-Founder, ZeaChem — Presentation Transcript