March 14, 2013

Sweetwater Wins Feedstock Award at 2013 World Biofuels Conference

Sweetwater Energy, Inc., a Rochester NY-based cellulosic sugar producer, has won the 2013 Sustainable Biofuels Feedstock Process Award at this year’s World Biofuels Markets / Bio-based Chemicals Conference currently being held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The award recognizes the most exciting new feedstock innovation in the development of truly sustainable and renewable fuel and chemical solutions in the global biofuels market.

“We’re very pleased to receive this recognition, especially on the global stage,” says Arunas Chesonis, Chairman and CEO of Sweetwater. “Sweetwater’s sugar platform technology is a way to help our customers take a step away from the difficulties of managing various types of feedstocks, and to have at their disposal a simple, clean source of carbon from which to produce fuels, plastics, and other useful chemicals. It’s gratifying to know we’re processing carbon captured from the atmosphere by crops and trees over the past few years, as opposed to carbon from 100 million years ago in the case of fossil fuel.”

The award is in recognition of Sweetwater’s patented cellulosic sugar technology, as well as for the patented decentralized business model that allows refineries to transition to cellulosic feedstocks gradually and without large capital outlays usually associated with cutting-edge cellulosic technologies. Sweetwater uses a unique technology to produce low-cost sugars from non-food plant materials, including waste materials such as crop residues, wood thinning, or non-food, purpose-grown crops such as energy sorghum. This highly fermentable sugar solution is sold to refineries, which use it to produce biofuels, biochemicals, and bioplastics.

“Taking the time to celebrate the innovation and invention in this industry is really the heart of these Awards,” commented Nadim Chaudhry, Chief Executive Officer of Green Power Conferences, organizer of both the awards and the conference. “Our industry has such outstanding leaders, innovative technology and groundbreaking partnerships happening all the time, every year the nominations increase and the judges find it more difficult to choose a winner.”

Sweetwater has already signed two $100 million deals for its sugar this year. Ace Ethanol in Wisconsin and Front Range Energy in Colorado will each begin replacing approximately seven percent of their corn with cellulosic sugar from Sweetwater, yielding about 3.5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol.

The eighth annual World Biofuels Markets is taking place over three days at the Beurs-World Trade Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Bringing together more than 1,500 participants from around the world, the conference has  covered key topics including energy security, finance, policy, technology, transport and production with the aim of accelerating the uptake of sustainable business practices with the biofuels sector.