Aemetis Establishes Carbon Capture Subsidiary for CO2 Sequestration to Further Reduce the Carbon Intensity of Dairy RNG and Renewable Fuels

California Central Valley is an Established CO₂Injection Region Supporting Carbon Sequestration Projects for Aemetis Dairy RNG Projects, Ethanol Plant, and Renewable Jet/Diesel Plant Under Development

CUPERTINO, CA, April 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTX), a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon intensity products, announced today that the company’s board of directors has approved the establishment of a new subsidiary named Aemetis Carbon Capture, Inc. California’s Central Valley is well established as a major region for large-scale CO₂injection projects due to the geologic formation of subsurface shale caprock that safely contains and retains gases.

The company’s carbon capture business unit will initially capture, dehydrate, compress, and sequester CO₂from Aemetis Biogas anaerobic dairy digester projects to further reduce the carbon intensity (CI) of its dairy biogas, which was recently certified by CARB as negative 426 (-426) for a Fuel Pathway established by Aemetis utilizing biogas from the company’s first two operating dairy lagoon anaerobic digesters for the production of renewable fuel. Currently, the -426 Aemetis dairy biogas carbon intensity score does not include the value of CO₂ Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS).

The planned 52 dairies in the Aemetis Biogas projects are expected to produce approximately 1.4 million MMBtu’s of dairy Renewable Natural Gas and about 50,000 metric tonnes of CO₂each year.  The Aemetis ethanol plant currently produces approximately 150,000 metric tonnes of CO₂per year, and the renewable jet/diesel plant under development is expected to produce 160,000 tonnes per year of CO₂.  

When related to transportation fuels production, CO₂sequestered underground is estimated to generate approximately $200 per metric tonne under the California Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS).  The IRS 45Q tax credit value for sequestered CO₂is approximately $50 per tonne.  

According to the EPA, approximately one metric tonne of CO₂is emitted for every 2,500 miles driven in a passenger car. Capturing and sequestering the annual CO₂from biogas generated by 52 dairies can offset the CO₂emissions from up to 125,000,000 passenger car miles. 

“Significant new legislation has been introduced in Congress to support the existing California LCFS and IRS 45Q carbon intensity reduction programs with additional carbon sequestration grants, investment tax credits, and other support,” said Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis, Inc.  “The formation of Aemetis Carbon Capture, Inc.is a key milestone in achieving a significant increase in the value of RNG by adding Carbon Capture & Sequestration to reduce the carbon intensity of the RNG produced from dairies.  The Aemetis Biogas projects with carbon sequestration by Aemetis Carbon Capture provide dairies with a compelling opportunity to avoid liability for methane emissions under the LCFS program.  Over the next five years, Aemetis plans to invest more than $300 million into dairy RNG and CCS projects that are already operating or in development,” added McAfee. 

The Aemetis Biogas Central Dairy Digester Project is a collection of dairy digesters and a 36-mile pipeline with gas cleanup and compression that are built, owned, and operated by Aemetis Biogas LLC.  The project produces renewable methane gas which is converted to negative carbon intensity RNG for transportation use to displace petroleum diesel fuel.  An estimated 25% of total methane emissions in California is produced by dairy waste lagoons. 

In September 2020, Aemetis Biogas LLCcompleted two dairy digesters and four miles of private biogas pipeline, which is already powering the production of low carbon biofuels at the Aemetis ethanol plant in Keyes, California.  A 32-mile Aemetis pipeline extension recently received CEQA permit approval to carry biogas from dairies in Stanislaus and Merced counties to the Keyes plant for biogas cleanup and conversion to RNG for sale as transportation fuel.  

The company plans to begin construction of the next five dairy digesters and the additional 32 miles of biogas pipeline in the second quarter of 2021, with five more dairy digesters set to begin construction in the third quarter of 2021 and five digesters beginning in the first quarter of 2022, for a planned total of 17 dairy digesters and a 36-mile biogas pipeline in operation by the second quarter of 2022.  

The common membership units of Aemetis Biogas LLC are wholly owned by Aemetis, Inc. 

About Aemetis

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, Aemetis is a renewable natural gas, renewable fuel and biochemicals company focused on the acquisition, development and commercialization of innovative technologies that replace petroleum-based products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  Founded in 2006, Aemetis has completed Phase 1 and is expanding a California biogas digester network and pipeline system to convert dairy waste gas into Renewable Natural Gas (RNG).  Aemetis owns and operates a 65 million gallon per year ethanol production facility in California’s Central Valley near Modesto that supplies about 80 dairies with animal feed.  Aemetis also owns and operates a 50 million gallon per year production facility on the East Coast of India producing high quality distilled biodiesel and refined glycerin for customers in India and Europe.  Aemetis is developing the Carbon Zero renewable jet and diesel fuel integrated biorefineries in California to utilize distillers corn oil from ethanol plants to produce low carbon intensity renewable jet and diesel fuel using cellulosic hydrogen from waste orchard wood and other negative carbon intensity biomass, and pre-extract cellulosic sugars from the waste biomass to be processed into high value cellulosic ethanol at the Keyes plant.  Aemetis holds a portfolio of patents and related technology licenses to produce renewable fuels and biochemicals.  For additional information about Aemetis, please visit www.aemetis.com.

Safe Harbor Statement 

This news release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events or other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation, statements relating to the construction and operation of the dairy digester and pipeline project in Central California, the construction and operation of carbon capture and sequestration projects in Central California, continued governmental programs and support for renewable fuels, the continued compliance with and qualification under governmental programs, and the ability to access markets and funding to execute our biogas and carbon capture business plans.  Words or phrases such as “anticipates,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “showing signs,” “targets,” “view,” “will likely result,” “will continue” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.These forward-looking statements are based on current assumptions and predictions and are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties.  Actual results or events could differ materially from those set forth or implied by such forward-looking statements and related assumptions due to certain factors, including, without limitation, competition in the ethanol, biodiesel and other industries in which we operate, commodity market risks including those that may result from current weather conditions, financial market risks, customer adoption, counter-party risks, risks associated with changes to federal policy or regulation, and other risks detailed in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and in our subsequent filings with the SEC. We are not obligated, and do not intend, to update any of these forward-looking statements at any time unless an update is required by applicable securities laws.

External Investor Relations Contact:
Kirin Smith
PCG Advisory Group
(646) 863-6519
ksmith@pcgadvisory.com

Company Contact:
Todd Waltz
Chief Financial Officer
(408) 213-0925
twaltz@aemetis.com