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GreenShift Corn Oil Extraction Patent Term Extended to 2028
Thursday, April 22, 2010
New York, NY -- GreenShift Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GERS) announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) has extended the term of U.S. Patent No. 7,601,858, titled "Method of Processing Ethanol Byproducts and Related Subsystems” (the ’858 Patent).
The ‘858 Patent, which was filed on May 5, 2005 and published on February 23, 2006, was previously scheduled to expire on May 5, 2025. The PTO extension pushes the expiration date out by 973 days to January 3, 2028, further strengthening the competitive advantage available to ethanol producers which license GreenShift’s technology.
The ‘858 Patent covers novel methods to recover high value crude corn oil from the backend of corn ethanol plants. This corn oil has been historically trapped in and sold with the distiller’s grain co-product of ethanol production (“DDG”) as a low value livestock feed product.
A conventional 100 million gallon per year ethanol producer produces about 360,000 tons per year of DDG that has a current market value of approximately $100 per ton. Locked within this DDG is about 36,000 tons per year of corn oil with a current gross market value of about $560 per ton. The ‘858 Patent discloses novel steps to unlock this value while reducing the energy costs of ethanol production. Extracting just 25% of the corn oil trapped in DDG would increase the profitability of GreenShift’s licensees by about $0.05 per gallon of ethanol produced at current market prices (net of royalty payments to GreenShift) – this equates to about $5,000,000 per year in increased profits for a 100 million gallon per year ethanol producer.
“Our patented corn oil extraction technologies deliver important and timely benefits to the ethanol industry, facts which have been recognized by the EPA and repeatedly confirmed by the PTO,” said David Winsness, GreenShift’s Chief Technology Officer. “We are thankful for the additional time granted by the PTO and look forward to the continued opportunity to deliver additional value to the industry.”
In February 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) published its estimate that 70% of the U.S. ethanol industry will use backend corn oil extraction technology to recover more than 66% of the available oil in corn ethanol co-products to fill 40% of America’s biodiesel feedstock demand by 2022.
GreenShift’s technical services staff are available at 888-ETHANOIL or sales@greenshift.com to respond to quotation requests and to answer any questions about GreenShift’s corn oil extraction and other technologies.
About GreenShift Corporation
GreenShift Corporation (OTC Bulletin Board: GERS) develops and commercializes clean technologies designed to address the financial and environmental needs of its clients by decreasing raw material needs, facilitating co-product reuse, and reducing the generation of wastes and emissions.
GreenShift’s mission is to build shareholder value by using its technologies to catalyze disruptive environmental gain. GreenShift believes that the first, best and most cost-effective way to achieve this is to develop technology-driven economic incentives that motivate large populations of people and companies to make incremental environmental contributions that are collectively very significant. With adoption by most of the U.S. ethanol industry, GreenShift’s commercially-available technologies can give way to disruptive gains by enabling sustainably increased production of globally-meaningful quantities of renewable fuels for distribution through existing supply chains.
GreenShift also maintains its strong commitment to continued innovation and has many additional patents pending for its Backend Fractionation™ portfolio of strategically-compatible cleantech designed to continue driving the corn ethanol industry into increased sustainability and global competitiveness.
Additional information on GreenShift and its technologies is available online at www.greenshift.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of GreenShift Corporation and members of its management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Important factors currently known to management that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-statements include fluctuation of operating results, the ability to compete successfully, and the ability to complete before-mentioned transactions. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results.
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