IGPC, Sweetwater investigate biorefinery project

November 22, 2013, Aylmer, Ont. – IGPC Ethanol, Inc. announced an
exclusive marketing relationship with Sweetwater Energy, Inc., a Rochester NY-based
renewable hydrocarbon producer, to investigate the feasibility of locating
Sweetwater’s first Canadian project in Ontario. The two companies are looking
at building an integrated ethanol refinery capable of producing ethanol from
non-food sources, as well as recycling the refinery’s carbon dioxide into
valuable vegetable oils.

“We couldn’t be more excited about collaborating with Sweetwater,”
says Jim Grey, CEO of IGPC. “We know they are looking at several provinces for
their Canadian solution for an integrated biorefinery. Such a project will make
domestic fuel and other products that are increasingly better for the
environment and better for the economy. This relationship is consistent with
our strategic direction, adding greater value to the industrial platform we
have established in Aylmer.”

Sweetwater uses two types of technology to aid biorefineries such as
IGPC. The first technology extracts valuable hydrocarbons from waste plant
material, such as wood or agricultural residues. Those hydrocarbons, in the
form of sugar, can be added directly into an ethanol facility’s corn mash to
produce additional ethanol. The second technology captures the carbon dioxide
that is released as part of the ethanol fermentation process and converts it
into high-value vegetable oils, which in turn can be converted into biodiesel
or many biochemicals.

“We’re creating a wraparound solution for IGPC,” says Arunas
Chesonis, chairman and CEO of Sweetwater Energy. “We’re helping stabilize their
feedstock price volatility, and helping reduce their carbon dioxide emissions.
We think there is a tremendous opportunity here, and we’re looking forward to
growing this solution with IGPC.”

Sweetwater’s business model was patented in 2012 for the manufacture
and deployment of distributed pretreatment units designed for the extraction of
sugars from any cellulosic feedstock. This proprietary process allows
Sweetwater to provide broad scale diversity for cellulosic ethanol production
that takes full advantage of economic and capacity constraints surrounding
cellulosic biomass. In 2013, Sweetwater announced a joint venture with
Naturally Scientific to develop and deploy the carbon dioxide to sugar
technology, which Naturally Scientific has had in full operation for two years
at their demonstration plant in Nottingham, UK.