Xethanol Corporation is a diversified renewable energy company dedicated to the production of ethanol and related products. Their focus is to produce these products in manufacturing facilities close to major urban markets, using raw materials readily available in those areas. The company also produces distiller’s wet grains, a by-product of the corn-to-ethanol process.
Founded in 2000, Xethanol Corporation is part of the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) as part of the Waste Management industry in the Industrial Goods sector. Their current market capitalization is $11.73 million. The company takes a different business approach when it comes to ethanol production. Corn is the primary raw material for ethanol. Most of the production of ethanol occurs in the Corn Belt, far from the high-demand ethanol areas of the coasts, including the Gulf coast. Xethanol instead uses locally available biomass, rather than corn, as their main material to produce their ethanol. This biomass is in the form of organic waste material such as wood chips, yard waste, corn stover, and municipal solid waste. Corn stover consists of the leaves and stalks of maize left in the fields.
Xethanol’s method involves situating their ethanol biorefineries close to high-density urban ethanol markets and close to reliable biomass sources. They believe this method will reduce freight and raw material costs. Xethanol has partnerships with several universities and national research institutes to develop new technologies to improve the production of ethanol and its co-products from biomass. These include collaborating with groups such as the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) of the USDA, the Energy and Environmental Research Center, and the the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
They also collaborate with Aventine, which produces and sells more that 500 million gallons of ethanol every year, and distributes Xethanol’s production on their behalf. Another partnership is with The Facility Group. This group is a professional service organization providing consulting, program management, architecture, engineering, and construction management services.
Xethanol Corporation’s headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. They also have an office in New York City. On June 18, 2008, the company announced that Dr. Thomas Jeffries addressed the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Nashville, Tennessee to report on his research sponsored by Xethanol. Dr. Jeffries, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, conducts research at the Forest Products Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Madison. Dr. Jeffries spoke on fermentation of cellulose and hemicellulose from corn waste. During his presentation, Dr. Jeffries discussed the key advantages of ethanol produced from corn residues, and why this product is more energy-efficient than ethanol produced from corn grain alone.
In addition, on June 9, 2008, Xethanol announced they formed a new operating division, Global Energy Systems, Inc. (GES). This new division will focus on the multi-billion dollar markets in landfill gas-to-energy, waste-to-energy, utility energy service contracts, and Xethanol’s existing biofuels-ethanol business. Xethanol Corporation continues to fuel growth for their shareholders through their innovative developments in alternative and renewable energy.
Let us hear your thoughts below:
