Submitted by EnergyTechStocks.com
It was toward the end of a day-long investor conference two weeks ago that John Heathcote, CEO of Britain’s Pursuit Dynamics PLC, said something that made at least one audience member ask himself, “Did I really hear what I just heard?”
When Heathcote and other CEOs on a biofuels panel were finished, the audience member asked Heathcote whether he had indeed said that Pursuit Dynamics technology can improve the efficiency of a corn ethanol plant by 15% at no extra cost. Heathcote confirmed the statement, noting that in March Pursuit signed an agreement with Pacific Ethanol Inc. to install equipment at a Pacific Ethanol facility in the first commercial test of technology which in a pilot plant had achieved a 14% increase in bioethanol yield compared with existing methods of production.
According to a company press release, the 90-day trial doesn’t begin until June, so whether Pursuit and its technology will perform as Heathcote expects won’t be known for at least another several months. Still, given what a 15% increase in productivity could mean to the corn ethanol business, now may be the time for investors to dig deeper into Pursuit and its technology so they can decide for themselves how good it looks. Pursuit Dynamics trades on the London Stock Exchange.
As described by Merriman Curhan Ford, the investment banking firm at whose conference Heathcote spoke, Pursuit Dynamics is in the process of “commercializing its proprietary PDX technology, which uses supersonic flow technology to aid in a variety of applications, including ethanol production, food processing and fire suppression, among others. The company’s PDX Reactor uses injections of high-velocity steam to generate a supersonic vapor and a condensation shockwave, which provide high-quality mixing and heating capability. The process also features no moving parts or restrictions.”
When the Pursuit-Pacific deal was announced, Pacific Ethanol’s CEO reportedly said, “We are excited by the potential of this technology to further enhance the efficiency of our production facilities.” If the test works, that excitement no doubt will be shared by all investors in corn ethanol production companies, given the added volume and revenue they may be able to produce at no extra cost. Others who may well be excited include politicians who have foolishly committed the U.S. to achieving corn ethanol production goals that seem out of reach with current technology, as well as environmentalists who have warned that Washington’s corn ethanol goals likely will worsen food shortages in parts of the world.
Exactly how much money Pursuit Dynamics will make if its technology proves successful remains to be seen. The press release says only, “The agreement envisages revenues based on a percentage of benefits achieved, which become payable in the period following the successful completion of the 90 day trial.”