Xethanol Corporation is a diversified renewable energy company dedicated to the production of ethanol and related products. They 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 byproduct of the corn-to-ethanol process.
Founded in 2000, Xethanol Corporation trades on the American Stock Exchange (AMEX) as part of the Waste Management industry in the Industrial Goods sector. Their current market capitalization is $9.16 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, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) of the USDA, Energy and Environmental Research Center, and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute.
In July, the company announced the hiring of Dr. Rom Papadopoulos, former Managing Director of The Jacoby Group, an Atlanta based investment group, to serve as their Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Papadopoulos will explore growth alternatives for Xethanol’s business, including mergers and acquisitions, investments, and new product lines in renewable energy.
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