Breakthrough '100% Green' Biofuels Technology Developed to Produce High Performance Fuels From Any Renewable Oil

GILBERT, Ariz., Feb. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Diversified Energy Corporation announced today they have agreed to the terms of an exclusive worldwide license with North Carolina State University for an innovative and breakthrough biofuels technology. The patent-pending process, termed Centia(TM), directly addresses President Bush's vision to reduce U.S. petroleum consumption by 20% and to increase the renewable fuels standard to 35 billion gallons per year by 2017. It provides several key advantages when compared with other biofuel processes like biodiesel, ethanol and others,including:

Centia(TM), a name derived from Crudus Potentia (meaning "green power" inLatin), can utilize feedstock oils from edible and inedible animal fats, wasteoils, agriculture crops like soybean, algae, newly proposed energy crops, orany other lipid-based feedstock. This provides the owner of a Centia(TM)biofuels plant the flexibility to use the most attractive feedstock at anygiven time or location. Centia(TM) is initially being positioned to produce commercial and military jet fuel and a cold-weather biodiesel additive -- both of which are challenging and complex hydrocarbon fuels and here to fore have received little attention by the biofuels industry. The overall process flexibility will allow for broad marketplace acceptance and unprecedented options for Centia(TM) biofuel plants to adapt to the ever-changing feedstock and fuels market.

North Carolina State University, a research and academic leader in engineering, agriculture, and bioenergy sciences, has been developing the pieces to Centia(TM) over the last decade. Recent results have proven the fundamental science and defined a path forward to an integrated demonstration and pilot-scale plant. The process is expected to deliver an end-to-end energy efficiency in excess of 85%, a key metric in determining the eventual affordability of the biofuel generated. This high efficiency is a result ofthe process requiring less than one-half the external energy to operate than other traditional biofuels techniques. The fuel will also be compliant to aviation fuel specifications, including energy density and cold flow properties. The process is "100% green," not relying on the use of any petroleum-derived products as components in the biofuel produced.

Diversified Energy Corporation has been supporting the university in systems integration, scale up, and the overall commercialization of the technology. Phillip Brown , President and CEO of Diversified Energy, commented,"Centia(TM) represents an absolute breakthrough and we couldn't be more excited to be working with North Carolina State University to bring it to market. A highly efficient, enormously flexible technology has finally arrived that mitigates the many challenges associated with feedstock availability and pricing, process efficiency, and biofuel affordability." "Diversified Energy represents the capable and experienced partner the university needs to take this technology to the next step. The university is committed to the biofuels market area and is eagerly awaiting the introduction of Centia(TM) biofuelplants," remarked Dr. John Gilligan , Vice-Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies at North Carolina State University.

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