Kingston, Ontario, Canada
June 18, 2008
Performance Plants
Inc. (PPI) has announced today that it has established an
American Research Center to develop specialized non-food crops
for industries seeking renewable feedstocks for liquid
transportation fuels, biochemicals and coal replacement.
The facility, located in Waterloo, New York, will develop
biomass feedstocks adapted to maximize cellulose energy
productivity per acre on land less suitable for food or feed
production. These crops will not compete with staple food crops
such as corn and soybean.
The Center will link PPI's strong trait discovery expertise with
its biotech crop development capabilities. It will evaluate and
demonstrate industrial, agronomic and environmental efficacy on
an adjacent Energy Farm. The Center will provide the next
generation of customized feedstocks derived from cellulosic
non-food biomass crops.
“PPI's capacity to deliver innovative products for the biofuels
industry is now totally in house, from trait discovery to
registered crop seeds for farmers and biomass feedstock for
industry,” says Peter Matthewman, President of Performance
Plants Inc., one of North America's leading biofuels and food
biotechnology companies.
“As the main constituent of plants, cellulose is the most
abundant renewable energy source on earth. The challenge is to
convert it economically into the fuels and products that are in
demand by consumers. That's the role of the new facility and its
staff,” said Dr. David Dennis, CEO of Performance Plants Inc.
The company recently announced a four-year agreement with
Lafarge Canada Inc. to develop and provide optimized non-food
biomass to replace coal at its cement plant in Bath, Ontario.
PPI's proprietary seeds will benefit farmers by providing new
income opportunities on land less suitable for major food crops.
Target crops include some highly productive annual and perennial
and grass species such as sorghum, switchgrass and Miscanthus.
Our goal is to provide economically viable feedstocks for
alternative energy ventures throughout North America.
“Our new US biofuels facility signals the company's intent to be
a major North American player in the emerging cellulosic ethanol
sector. The New York facility will accelerate the introduction
of crops that are customized as feedstocks for ethanol and
bio-products,” said Mr. Matthewman.
PPI's proprietary technologies will enable crops to produce more
energy per acre and reduce the costs to produce each gallon of
ethanol.
Established in 1995, Performance Plants Inc. (PPI) is a
leader in biofuel and food crop biotechnology. Headquartered in
Kingston, Ontario, Canada, it has Research and Development
facilities in Kingston, Ontario, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and
Waterloo, New York. PPI has developed a suite of weatherproofing
traits including its breakthrough Yield Protection Technology®
(YPT®) which has been licensed to companies like Syngenta,
Stine, Scotts Miracle Gro and RiceTec. These traits enhance a
crop's natural ability to consistently deliver higher crop
yields under all weather conditions. |
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