100% Biobased PET: A Sustainable Approach to Fiber, Film, and Bottles.

© Virent 2012

5th Annual Renewable Energy and

Advanced Biofuels Summit

Greg Keenan, Virent Inc. - Vice President Business Development & Engineering

Virent at a Glance The global leader in catalytic biorefinery research, development, and commercialization

Employees

Financial Infrastructure

117 Employees

25x Development Pilot Plants 1x 10,000 gal/yr Demo Plant

Partners & Investors

> $77 MM in Equity Funding > $75 MM in Gov & Industry

© Virent 2012 2

Virent’s BioForming® Technology

Fast and Robust

Inorganic Catalysts

Moderate Conditions

Industry Proven Scalability

Energy Efficient

Exothermic

Low Energy Separation

Low Carbon Footprint

Premium Drop-in Products

Tunable Platform

Infrastructure Compatible

Fuels and Chemicals

Feedstock Flexible

Conventional Sugars

Non-Food Sugars

Leading catalytic route to renewable hydrocarbon fuels and chemicals.

Virent’s “Eagle” Demonstration Plant- Madison, WI

30 Issued/Allowed Patents 152 Pending Patent Applications

© Virent 2012 3

Fuels and Chemicals from Biomass

Fermentation

Fermentation

APR

Refining

Fischer-

Tropsch

Catalysis

Gasification

Pyrolysis

Hydrolysis

Syngas

Bio-oils

Sugars

Diesel

Jet Fuel

Ethanol

Methanol

Ethanol

Liquid Fuels

Ethanol

Butanol

Hydrocarbons

Gasoline

Jet fuel

Diesel

Chemicals

CH1.4O0.6

CH1.6O0.4

CH2O

CO + H2

CH2

CH2

CH3O0.5

CH3O0.5

CH3O0.5

CH2

CH2

CH3O0.5

Virent’s BioForming® Process

Biomass

© Virent 2012 4

BioForming® Concept

Biomass

Cane

Corn

Reformate

Distillate

Biomass

Sugar Cane

Corn

Aqueous

Phase

Reforming

(APR)

Modified

ZSM-5

Condensation +

Hydrotreating

Aromatics

Gasoline

Jet Fuel

Diesel

Process flexibility enables the production of gasoline, aromatic chemicals, jet

fuel and diesel from a variety of raw materials.

APR prepares biomass derived feedstocks for

optimal conversion into hydrocarbons.

Feedstocks to APR include any water soluble

carbohydrate.

Option for natural gas co-processing can improve

yields and economics.

Overall process efficiency > 85%.

Demonstrated process yields are 85% of theoretical.

© Virent 2012 5

Commercializing Drop-in Fuels from Biomass

Virent’s biobased gasoline fuel

being used by the Scuderia

Ferrari race team.

Fuel produced from sugar beets

in Virent’s demonstration plant in

Madison, WI.

Fleet trial successfully completed

by Shell in the summer of 2011.

Results demonstrate the biobased

gasoline produced by Virent

performs as well as conventional

fuels derived from petroleum.

Shell Led Validation Activities Demonstrate the Utility and Benefits of

Virent’s Direct Replacement Hydrocarbon Fuels.

© Virent 2012 6

Jet Fuel Product Validation

Testing validates potential for 100% replacement. Initiated ASTM certification process. Awarded FAA contract to support certification.

Wright Patterson Air Force Lab confirms Virent’s jet meets or exceeds petroleum derived fuel standards.

© Virent 2012 7

Making 100% Plant Based PET Possible

Virent and The Coca-Cola Company Sign Agreements to Develop and

Supply PX for 100% Renewable, Recyclable PlantBottle™ Packaging

Virent’s Plant Based Paraxylene Paves the Way for a 100% Bio-PET Bottle

8 © Virent 2012

Adapted from Coca-Cola website graphic

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/plantbottle_basics.html

Current State-of-the-Art PET

PTA

69%

MEG 31%

Ethylene PX Petro-based

feedstock

PET Resin

Blow

molding

Petro-based

feedstock

Bio-based

feedstock Ethanol

Bio-

MEG

31%

Today, the vast majority of PET is

sourced from fossil derived

feedstocks.

Partially bio-based PET bottles

(up to 30%) can be produced

from MEG that is derived from

ethanol.

© Virent 2012 9

100% Renewable, Recyclable PET

PTA 69%

MEG 31%

Ethylene PX Petro-based

feedstock

PET Resin

Blow molding

Petro-based feedstock

Bio-based

feedstock Ethanol

Bio-

MEG

31%

Bio-based

feedstock

BioForm

PX

Bio-

PTA

69%

Bio-PET

Resin

Blow

molding

Slide 10

Virent technology for

bio-based PX enables a

100% bio-based PET bottle

that is:

• 100% Recyclable

• 100% Renewable

Adapted from Coca-Cola website graphic

http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/plantbottle_basics.html © Virent 2012 10

PX World Market

2010 2020

$39B

30Mt 57Mt

World

market

size (2010 USD)

World

consumption (million metric

tons)

$116B

Sources: PCI; EIA.

© Virent 2012 11

BioForming® & Aromatics Separation

Aqueous Phase

Reforming

Catalytic Conversion

to Hydrocarbons

BioForming® Process Catalytic de-oxygenation of soluble

carbohydrates

Proprietary novel APR catalyst & Virent-

modified acid condensation catalyst

Virent has proven technical feasibility of

using cellulosic materials as feedstock

Aromatics Processing BioFormate® can be utilized as a fuel or

processed in existing aromatics

infrastructure

Optimized integration with aromatics

isomerization, separation and purification

possible

Reactive

Intermediates BioFormPX™

&

other aromatic

chemicals

Aromatic-Rich

BioFormate®

Aromatics

Complex

Converting Multiple Feedstocks to High Value Hydrocarbons

Biomass

Sugar

Cane

Corn

© Virent 2012 12

PET Supply Chain Integration

Virent’s technology addresses sustainability: supply, economics, & environment

Diversify and increase available raw materials with minimal impact to the supply chain.

Reduce exposure to crude oil volatility, increase security of supply.

Address sustainability requirements of the consumer and regulator.

Virent will target 2015 or sooner for the production of BioFormPX™

Secured Coca-Cola development and supply agreement.

Establishing production and supply chain partnerships.

Crude Oil

Reformate

BTX PX PTA

PET resin Preform Bottle

Naphtha

Biomass Reformate BTX PX

Virent

PET fiber Textile Clothing

BioFormPX™ Brand

© Virent 2012 13

Economics – Mass Balance/Yield

Virent BioForming

Aromatics Processing

Soluble Carbohydrate

2.6t

BioFormate (Liquid

Hydrocarbons)

1t

Paraxylene 0.6t

Benzene 0.2t

Light Ends 0.1t

BioFuel 0.1t

Virent BioForming

Maximum Theoretical Conversion

Specific Feedstock Consumption (mass carbohydrate per mass hydrocarbon)

2.6 2.3

Mass yield to liquid hydrocarbon

38% 43%

Efficiency (% of theoretical)

88% efficient --

Mass Flows Biomass

Sugar cane

Corn

© Virent 2012 14

Economics – Biomass Breakeven

15

Notes:

*Product Values utilize historic Crude to Product Value Ratios from Mid 2007 to Mid 2010

*Major Utilities Cost Assumptions of $4/mmbtu NG and $0.07/kw-hr

*Includes Variable and Fixed costs

Cash cost breakeven for a Virent BioForming® refinery producing aromatics.

60

70

80

90

100

110

120

0 50 100 150 200 250

Cru

de

Oil,

$/B

BL

Biomass, $/tonne

© Virent 2012

Green House Gas (GHG) Emissions Cradle To Grave Analysis for biobased PX

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Petro PX BioFormPX- US corn

BioFormPX- EU sugar beet

BioFormPX - BR sugar cane

kg C

O2

eq

v /

kg p

rod

uct

GHG emissions

> 30% reduction

> 55% reduction

> 35% reduction

16

• Initial Virent internal GHG estimates conducted for one potential commercial plant configuration

• GHG emissions calculated based on economic allocation methodology (5 yr. price average)

• Utilized EcoInvent and GREET data in conjunction with GaBi software for GHG analysis.

• Does not include any transportation effects post-gate.

© Virent 2012

Virent Produces Aromatics From Cellulosics

In June 2011 Virent announced the production of aromatics (Benzene,

Toluene, Xylene) from corn stover and pine tree waste.

Virent’s Success Advanced the Company to Phase II of the US Department of Energy’s National

Advanced Biofuels Consortium Program.

© Virent 2012 17

One scenario…

-

10,000

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Par

a X

ylen

e C

on

sum

pti

on

('

000

met

ric

ton

s)

Biobased PX

Petro PX

• 10% of PX biobased by 2020… ~ 30 full-scale BioForming plants.

• Brand owner sustainability commitments provide near term market pull and support

the development of a biobased supply chain.

Coca-Cola has made 10 billion PlantBottles since launch in 2009; Odwalla is now is entirely in

100% bio PE bottles; Coca-Cola has stated its aim is to have ALL of its PET packaging based

on PlantBottle resin by 2020

• Increasing crude and naphtha prices support investment into biobased PX.

© Virent 2012 18

Environment – Scale

Currently in the US, 36% of

potential corn starch output

is used to make ~10% of

the gasoline fuel demand

(volumetric basis)

36% 10%

% o

f su

pp

ly o

r d

em

and

26%

• The cellulosic column represents the embodied sugars of the cellulose and hemicellulose in the US DoE’s estimate of

total currently used and potential forest and agriculture biomass available in the US alone in 2012. Using 26% of that

feedstock would also supply 10% of the US gasoline market.

© Virent 2012 19

Environment – Scale

4.5% 100%

But only 4.5% of potential US corn

starch output is required to make

100% of North American PX

consumption

% o

f su

pp

ly o

r d

em

and

© Virent 2012 20

Environment – Scale

Chemicals such as PX

are used at a scale that

can be realistically

supplied by bio-based

feedstocks alone

4.5% 100%

% o

f su

pp

ly o

r d

em

and

• The average year-on-year increase in US corn production (total bushels) over the past 50 years has been 4.8% per year

• The cellulosic column represents the embodied sugars of the cellulose and hemicellulose in the US DoE’s estimate of

total currently used and potential forest and agriculture biomass available in the US alone in 2012.

3.1%

© Virent 2012 21

Commercial Status

1st BioForming

Chemicals Plant

2015

JV & Financing

In discussions

Feedstock

In discussions

Site

Selection process

underway

Expected

Q2 2012

EPC

FEL2 underway

Customers

Others in negotiation

© Virent 2012 22

Summary

Leading technology for catalytic conversion of plant matter

to direct replacement hydrocarbons, including aromatics.

Pursuing opportunities in chemicals as a first plant

deployment.

PX is the first chemicals target.

Signed a development and supply agreement with Coca-Cola.

Establishing strategic partnerships to commercialize

biobased aromatics production and supply chain.

Developing pathways to advance integration with

cellulosic feedstocks and lignin to further improve yields

and profitability.

© Virent 2012 23

Virent converts plant-based sugars into 100% renewable chemicals and fuels. Our bio-based products are identical to those produced from petroleum—direct replacements that utilize today’s processing, storage and transportation infrastructure. If you are interested in strategic partnering opportunities please contact:

Greg Keenan, VP Business Development

greg_keenan@virent.com | 608.237.8604

© Virent 2012

Thank you.