During the XIX International Symposium on Alcohol Fuels in Verona

M&G Group and Chemtex Launch PROESA™ Technology to the
International Financial and Business Community

Break-through technology to produce fermentable sugars from cellulosic biomass
for conversion to advanced biofuels and/or sustainable chemicals.

Verona, Italy — 13 October 2011 –

During the XIX International Symposium on Alcohol Fuels, Mossi & Ghisolfi Group (M&G Group) and Chemtex, its wholly-owned engineering and technology affiliate, officially launched their break-through PROESA™ Technology that produces second generation cellulosic ethanol to the international financial and business community.

It was announced at the launch that PROESA™ Technology will be exclusively licensed into the global marketplace by BETA RENEWABLES, a new joint venture established by M&G Group with TPG Capital and TPG Biotech.  A collaboration with GraalBio investimentos S.A. for a first industrial scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Brazil was also made public.

Engineered and developed by Chemtex, PROESA™ produces fermentable sugars from a wide variety of biomass such as energy crops, agricultural residuals (straws and stover), sugar cane bagasse and selected hardwoods.  These sugars can then be fermented into ethanol and/or sustainable chemicals.  PROESA™ utilizes a unique pre-treatment and viscosity reduction process that produces high quality fermentable cellulosic sugars with best-in-class (lowest) capital and operating costs compared to other fermentation based technologies. 

PROESA™, for which multiple patent applications have been filed, is the result of a five-year investment program in Research and Development by M&G Group.   PROESA™ also takes into account the features of the Biolyfe Project, co-founded by the European Commission as part of the 7th Framework Programme for the promotion of wide scale use of bioethanol fuel.

According to M&G Group, the expectation for second generation facilities is close to 1000 industrial facilities worldwide by 2025 and PROESA™ is expected to be the chosen technology for a fair share of these plants. 

The world’s first industrial plant for the production of 2nd generation bioethanol (employing Chemtex’s break-through PROESA™ Technology) is under construction at Crescentino (Vercelli), Italy. The 40,000 metric ton per year ethanol plant is targeted for start-up in the middle of next year (end H1, 2012) and will use dedicated energy crops (arundo donax which is also known as giant reed) and straw as the feedstock.   

 “We at Chemtex are so proud of what we achieved as PROESA™ Technology will allow us to be at least 18 months to three years ahead of anyone else", Guido Ghisolfi, Vice-President of M&G Group and CEO of Chemtex said. “Moreover, we believe we can be competitive with fuel because bio-ethanol produced from PROESA™ Technology can be cheaper for the final user, it is sustainable and it is green. We are pleased  that the marketplace is  recognizing and accepting our value proposition”.
The Technology has already been selected by numerous leading green chemistry technology providers. Publicly announced collaborators include Amyris, Genomatica and Codexis. 

Media Contacts:

M&G Group
Giuseppe Fano
Corporate Director External Relations
Tel +39 0131 810268– Giuseppe.fano@gruppomg.com

Chemtex
Dennis Leong
Executive Vice-President
Marketing & Business Development
Tel +1 910 509 4407 – dennis.leong@chemtex.com

Weber Shandwick Italy
Milan Office –  +39  02 573781
Francesca Baldini - +39 335 7357147 – fbaldini@webershandwick.com
Hélène Thiery - +39 346 0826973 – hthiery@webershandwick.com