This excerpt from EBC's 10-K filed Tuesday, looks very promising:
PRODUCTION OF ORGANOSULFUR COMPOUNDS
In 1998, EBC discovered a method to use its proprietary catalyst
technology to produce a class of oxidized aromatic sulfur compounds with excellent properties as a hydrotrope. Further chemical derivation of these compounds via commercially practiced methods of manufacturing produces excellent anionic surfactants and detergents. The new process involves a selective oxidative extraction of aromatic sulfur compounds from highly aromatic high-sulfur content diesel boiling point-range streams (cracked stocks) within the heart of the refinery. This new application of EBC's proprietary biocatalyst technology has received considerable interest from large refiners and surfactant manufacturers. Refiners are interested in this technology because oxidative extraction of polynuclear aromatic sulfur compounds from these "cracked stocks" increases their value and reduces downstream refining costs. EBC believes that surfactant manufacturers will be
enticed by the low-cost feedstock and the possible intrinsic environmental friendliness of chemicals produced via a biological pathway. One of the markets EBC has been targeting, the linear alkyl benzene sulfonate ("LAS") market, is currently a four billion pound per year market with a 4% average annual growth rate. EBC's new product could displace or alternatively, reduce the use of benzene and possibly eliminate the need for a costly sulfonation step in the manufacture of a LAS substitute. The substitute product has
physical and chemical properties similar to LAS. EBC plans to partner with an existing surfactant manufacturer to evaluate and develop this new commercial application of its technology. No assurance can be given that EBC will be successful in partnering with existing surfactant manufacturers to develop this technology, or will otherwise be able to successfully develop and commercialize this new discovery.
OTHER POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF BIOREFINING
EBC believes there are numerous other applications for its biorefining
technology. These potential applications include the following:
METALS REMOVAL. Heavy metals (principally Cadmium and Vanadium) in
petroleum damage refinery catalysts and reduce the value of some petroleum products. In addition, heavy metals limit the efficiency of conventional desulfurization technologies. EBC has been issued a U.S. patent on crude oil demetalization and believes that systems can be developed for the economic biocatalyst removal of metals from crude oil and residual oil.
VISCOSITY REDUCTION AND CRACKING. Bioprocessing technologies have been
used for many years to depolymerize very viscous solutions of corn starch to produce high fructose corn syrup. A similar chemical process in refineries is called "cracking" which refers to the thermal degradation of complex hydrocarbon molecules into simpler, higher-value products. EBC believes a biocatalytic liquefaction system could be applied to molecules in some highly viscous crude oils, which currently have little commercial value. EBC believes that this process could produce crude oil with significantly reduced viscosity, a higher proportion of molecules in the gasoline and diesel fuel boiling range, and increased commercial value.
BUSINESS STRATEGY
EBC's goal is to become the leading provider of biocatalytic solutions
for the energy and chemical industries. EBC's strategy is to concentrate its internal resources on the research, development and marketing of its BDS technology while entering into strategic alliances to assist in the engineering and construction of BDS units. To commercialize BDS, EBC must develop the BDS process to a competitive commercial level, establish the infrastructure required to deliver, supply and service the BDS units, and sell the BDS units to refiners, oil and chemical producers. EBC believes it has chosen the most rapid commercialization strategy by working on these efforts in parallel and leveraging internal resources with strategic alliances.
EBC believes that its technology has broad potential application in the processing of petroleum products and in the production of valuable chemicals. Although its technology is first directed at biocatalytic desulfurization and chemical production, EBC's long-term plan includes expanding the capabilities of its technology to address the removal of other petroleum impurities (e.g., nitrogen and metals), and addressing other refining processes (e.g., viscosity reduction and cracking).
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
To commercialize BDS, EBC must improve the productivity of the
biocatalyst to a competitive economic level while developing an engineered bioreactor system that allows the control of several process variables to produce optimal biocatalytic desulfurization. To accomplish these goals, EBC has conducted extensive research, development and testing of the biocatalyst and bioreactor, and has assembled a team of scientists and engineers with extensive experience in microbial physiology, molecular biology, biochemistry, fermentation, process development and scale-up, biochemical engineering, separations technology, and refinery process engineering and operations.
The focus of EBC's research and development efforts has been to develop the BDS process for use in (i) treating diesel fuel, gasoline and crude oil, and (ii) since 1998, production of novel valuable complex sulfur chemicals foruse in a wide variety of markets. EBC expects the desulfurization of diesel fuel at Petro Star, where its development efforts are the most advanced, could be the first commercial application of its BDS technology. As a result of the specificity of the biocatalyst for each product application, EBC expects that further development will be required to commercialize its BDS technology for use in treating gasoline, crude oil and production of other chemicals. Because of the expected value and accelerated development accompanying the organosulfur chemical products, there is a good possibility that commercialization of the organosulfur compounds will rapidly overtake the refining applications. |
