KL Energy Corp...Clearly Fueling the future.

Western Biomass Energy, LLC (WBE)

In 2008, Western Biomass Energy (WBE), a cellulosic ethanol plant began producing it's first batch of cellulose based ethanol. WBE first began its operations at its location near Upton, Wyoming in March 2007. Engineered, constructed and operated by KL Energy Corporation (formally KL Process Design Group), it is the first demonstration-commercial hybrid plant to operate in the United States—and possibly the world. The fuel ethanol plant derives its feedstock of ponderosa pine which is found in the foothills of the Black Hills of Eastern Wyoming. The ethanol produced from the wood chip/wood waste feedstock, will be sold for blending with gasoline and diesel fuel as an octane enhancer, and as a fuel oxygenate to meet federal fuel blending standards mandated in the Clean Air Act of 1990.

The start-up of the plant is the culmination of development efforts between KL Energy Corporation and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. In April 2000, KL Energy Corporation formed Western Biomass Energy to provide a platform for research and development between KL and SDSMT. Western Biomass Energy developed from lab-scale testing and analysis at SDSMT to the scaled-up commercial-version now in operation.

WBE serves several strategic functions for KL Energy Corporation:

• Scale-up risk mitigation: the scale up from laboratory, pilot and demonstration scale provides invaluable insights to the commercialization of KL Energy Corporation technology.
• Feedstock testing. WBE is designed to validate KL Energy Corporations technology using a wide range of woody biomass.
• R&D. WBE provides the platform for KL Energy Corporation to introduce process modifications which ultimately leads to improved performance.
• Continuous operations. Ethanol and co-products are available to the market place.
  

KL Energy | 306 East St. Joseph Street, Suite 200 | Rapid City, SD  57701 | Fax: (605) 718-1372