Gevo Inc has entered into a license agreement and a joint development agreement with Praj Industries to enable the licensing of Gevo’s isobutanol technology to processors of non-corn based sugars, including the majority of Praj’s global customer base of ethanol plant owners.
As part of these agreements, Praj will invest substantial resources in the development and optimization of Gevo’s isobutanol technology for use with non-corn feedstocks including sugar cane, sugar beets, cassava, rice, sorghum, wheat and certain cellulosic sugars. This development work is anticipated to lead to process design packages that would be expected to accelerate the licensing of Gevo technology to processors of these, particularly in Praj’s extensive customer base.
The development work is expected to build upon the PDP that Gevo already has developed for corn, translating it to other feedstocks and plant configurations. Praj would be the customer-facing entity marketing Gevo’s isobutanol technology to Praj’s existing customer base, and would provide the engineering, procurement and construction services for such projects.
Gevo would be the direct licensor of its technology to these end-customers. Globally, Praj is one of the leading suppliers of EPC services to the ethanol industry, having provided such services to approximately 350 ethanol plants across 65 countries. It is anticipated that Praj and Gevo will also work together to commercialize Gevo’s technology for making renewable jet fuel from isobutanol in India.
As previously announced, Gevo and Praj expect to license up to 250 million gallons of Biobutanol capacity over the next ten years under this partnership.