HCL CLEANTECH - PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE:                  1 April 2010
CONTACT:          Shane Reese (919.693.3000)

HCL CleanTech Establishes Administrative and Pilot Plant Facilities in North Carolina

OXFORD – HCL CleanTech, a U.S.-Israeli biofuels technology development company, has chosen North Carolina as the site for its administrative headquarters and first pilot plant.
The Biofuels Center of North Carolina has assisted the company and will provide office space in Oxford in its Biofuels Accelerator on North Carolina’s Biofuels Campus.  The pilot plant will be located at Southern Research Institute’s Advanced Energy and Transportation Technologies Center in Durham.  The strengths and partnership of two interactive and leading North Carolina biofuels entities was compelling to the company, and a factor in its decision.

“HCL CleanTech will invest millions of dollars to move the company to North Carolina and build the pilot plant,” said Eran Baniel, president and CEO of HCL CleanTech.  “Looking forward to the commercialization of our process, we hope that with state and county assistance, and a successful pilot, we might provide the pulp and paper industry [in North Carolina] with a new opportunity.”

HCL CleanTech is a leading developer of full process technology for conversion of woody biomass to fermentable sugars and advanced biofuels.  Increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of such conversion will be key to gaining more sustainable biofuels in North Carolina and nationally. North Carolina, with 17.6 million acres of forest land, is particularly well-suited to both benefit from and assist a company working for fuels based on woody biomass.

“HCL can draw on all that is best about North Carolina’s biofuels community.  We’re strong in the facilities, partnerships, state commitment, and forest resources needed for its success,” said W. Steven Burke, president and CEO of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina.  “North Carolina gains from HCL a smart partner, a model and innovative new company, and a technology perfectly matched to our biomass resources.” 

The company’s technology utilizes hydrochloric acid to break down lignocellulose, which releases starches for enzymatic fermentation into fuel alcohol.  In the process, HCL CleanTech recovers the hydrochloric acid, which allows maximum efficiency of enzymes while re-using the acid.

The Biofuels Center is a private non-profit corporation funded by the North Carolina General Assembly to develop large capacity for biofuels statewide in coming years.  The Center implements sustained state policy, assists companies and all parties within the biofuels community, and works to meet North Carolina’s goal:  by 2017, 10% of the state’s liquid transportation fuels will come from biofuels grown and produced within the state.

About HCL CleanTech

Incorporated in December 2007, HCL CleanTech, Ltd., is a technology development company co-founded by two of Israel’s most prominent Industrial Chemical Research scientists—Prof. Avraham Baniel (over 35 years Applied R&D and Management of IMI - Israel Mining Institute - and teaching at the Casali Institute of the Hebrew University) and Prof. Ari Eyal (Prof. of Applied Chemistry, senior advisor to many firms worldwide).  Since May 2009, HCL CleanTech, Ltd., is fully owned by HCL CleanTech, Inc., whose offices are at the Biofuels Center of North Carolina in Oxford.  Find out more at www.hclcleantech.com.


About Southern Research Institute

Southern Research Institute is a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 scientific research organization that conducts advanced engineering research in materials, systems development, environment and energy, and preclinical drug discovery and development.  Southern Research is headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., with facilities in Wilsonville, Ala., Anniston, Ala., Frederick, Md., and Durham, NC, and offices in New Orleans, La., Washington, DC and Kiev, Ukraine.  Find out more at www.southernresearch.org.