ZeaChem starts building cellulosic biorefinery

June 7, 2010, Lakewood, CO – ZeaChem Inc. has broken ground for a 250,000 gallon/year
(946,000 L/year) biorefinery in Boardman, Oregon. The company will build
commercial-scale biorefineries upon successful operations at the Boardman
facility. The plant will initially use ZeaChem’s core technology, which has
been validated by a number of third-party vendors, to produce ethyl acetate, a
salable chemical intermediate and precursor to cellulosic ethanol.

ZeaChem’s
fermentation technology has been built and tested at the Hazen Research
facility in Golden, Colorado. Several industry vendors have validated the
additional process units, including acetic acid concentration and ethyl acetate
production. Using an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant from the U.S. Department of
Energy (U.S. DOE), the company will add the cellulosic ethanol production
capability to come online in 2011.

ZeaChem
has a contract with GreenWood Resources, a Portland, Oregon-based timberland
investment manager, to obtain sustainable hybrid poplar feedstock from nearby
farms held under GreenWood Tree Farm Fund LP. Because the technology is
feedstock agnostic, ZeaChem will also process trials of herbaceous crops,
agricultural residuals, and other renewable biomass resources. ZeaChem’s
"grow where you go" strategy locates production facilities with
dedicated energy crops to minimize the transportation and logistics costs of
cellulosic biofuel and bio-based chemical production. ZeaChem will supplement
its dedicated energy crop supply with additional local residuals.

With
groundbreaking on the core process in Boardman underway and the future addition
of the U.S. DOE grant-funded cellulosic ethanol capacity, ZeaChem is on
schedule to begin production of cellulosic ethanol in 2011.