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Fulcrum Secures US$175m for Waste to Fuel Gasification Project
03 December 2012
Pleasanton, California based waste renewable fuel specialist, Fulcrum BioEnergy has secured commitments and is proceeding toward closing financings totaling $175 million to fund construction of its first municipal solid waste (MSW) to low-carbon fuels plant.
The company said that the Sierra BioFuels Plant will use sorted, post-recycled MSW and convert it into ethanol using a two-step process which consists of gasification followed by alcohol synthesis. The plant also produces enough energy to power the process.
Fulcrum added that it engineering and technology teams have recently made numerous enhancements to the design of the Sierra facility and to its proprietary MSW to ethanol process.
According to the company these improvements will dramatically reduce its cost to produce renewable fuel to less than $0.75 per gallon at plant, down from approximately $1.25 per gallon as previously disclosed.
The company went to on claim that it now expects the cost of production at its future to be less than $0.50 per gallon, down from $0.70 per gallon as previously disclosed.
Fulcrum said that the latest investment will not only finance the Sierra facility, but will also fund the development of future projects.
“The current IPO market environment remains challenging, especially for development stage companies like Fulcrum,” explained Fulcrum President and Chief Executive Officer E. James Macias.
“Because of this we have secured commitments from alternative capital resources to advance our MSW to renewable fuel program and we have withdrawn our registration statement,” he added.
“We intend to pursue an initial public offering in the future when market conditions are more favorable,” concluded Macias.
A video explaining Fulcrum’s waste to fuel technology can be seen below.