THE SUMMIT CULTIVATRON / SPLANTS ADVANTAGE IN PRODUCING SAF AND RENEWABLE DIESEL & BIOGAS

July 25, 2024

 

The Global Challenge

It is being able to secure and efficiently and rapidly process quality Feedstocks nearly anywhere and at a large commercial scale that are sufficient to produce the quantities of SAF and renewable diesel fuel & biogas needed to supply global requirements, neat, and at a cost that is comparable with the fossil equivalents delivered to the Customers globally.

 

To understand the unique advantage provided by the Splants Feedstock produced in the Cultivatron to meet, and even exceed, this challenge and differentiate and distinguish the derivative Summit NuSAFuel and Renewable NuDiesel and NuGas Solutions from the alternative solutions, it is important to understand the current and proposed alternatives and why they are not strategically viable.

 

The Alternative Strategically Non-viable Solutions

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The Alternative Solutions employ waste organic matter (e.g., cooking oils, animal fat, other) or farmed products with high oil content (e.g., corn, other), as well as various esoteric products (e.g., Green Hydrogen), as feedstocks to produce fuels that meet ASTM and other established Standards and will not require changes to the engines or turbines. These feedstocks include:

 

• Vegetable Oils

 

The global production of vegetable oils is in the range of 275 Million metric tons () per year, including what is used in households, restaurants and commercially. If all that cooking oil was used, for example, to sustainably produce diesel fuel, it would generate 203 Million MT of Renewable or Bio Diesel, as possible (0.74 Kgs of BioDiesel from 1 Kg of vegetable oil). This assumes that all the vegetable oils could be collected, whether from the many diverse & dispersed locations where it is produced and/or from the quantum more locations (e.g., restaurants) where it is used in much smaller quantities.

 

The availability of the entire 275 Million MT of vegetable oils for producing green fuels is unrealistic; rather, the metrics to date indicate that the amount of green Diesel that could be produced from vegetable oils is on the order of 40 Million MT, or only about 0.63% of the total 6.5 Billion MT annual consumption of diesel (i.e., enough for only 2.3 days of consumption). If the consumption of Gasoline/Petrol (5.8 Billion MT per year) and Jet Fuel (260 Million MT per year) also are considered, the total is a staggering 12.6 Billion MT per year. Accordingly, the available vegetable oils would be enough for the consumption on the first day of each year and the remaining 364 days would not be covered by this feedstock.

 

Additionally, the large number and diverse & dispersed locations of the sources of vegetable oils make it very costly to collect and transport to the refining sites, and then clean the oils, and transport the finished green fuels to the consumer. Further, the CO2 generated by these activities is enormous.

 

It is only possible to increase the availability of vegetable oils in a meaningful way as a feedstock for producing green fuels by increasing consumption of the oils. Practically, that will happen only if the population grows; however, in that case, there will be more vehicles and more flights and the need for the fuels will increase.

 

Vegetable Oil-to-biogas is not possible.

 

• Animal Fat

 

The global production of qualified animal fat that is suitable for producing green fuels is in the range of 32 Million MT per year, which will generate approximately 21.7 Million MT of green Diesel, or 0.17% of the total needed.

 

The issues associated with collection of vegetable oils also apply to animal fats

 

If this feedstock is added to the vegetable oils, the total would be sufficient to produce green fuels needed for the first 36 hours of the year.

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• High Oil Content Plants Produced by Traditional Agriculture Employing Current Advanced Methods

 

It’s common knowledge that the average yield per cultivated acre is 600 liters of green fuels per year (2 crops). Net after producing green fuels from vegetable oils and animal fat feedstocks, 25.5 Billion acres of agricultural land or 102 Million Square Kilometers () of new agricultural space would be required.The total land surface of the Planet is 148.3 Million SqKm. This leaves 46.3 SqKm for food production, habitats, recreation, humans and other creatures, etc.

 

Should this approach be possible, it would require on the order of 50 Quadrillion Gallons of , or 25 times the 2 Quadrillion Gallons of water used globally in agriculture today, which is equivalent to 75% of all fresh water used in the Planet, 115 Billion MT of and 45 Million MT of per year, while being susceptible to the uncertainties of Mother Nature

 

Further, with soil being the largest CO2 storage medium after the oceans, Agriculture has a very high CO2 footprint, as it is released when the soil is turned/disturbed during planting, growing and harvesting.

 

• Green Hydrogen

 

Though there are many advantages to hydrogen for fuel cells and as a feedstock for producing green fuels/energy, there remains some meaningful disadvantages and serious challenges to be resolved before it should be considered for use broadly or in certain specific applications.For example:

 

• . Despite being the most abundant element in the Universe, hydrogen does not exist on its own, so it needs to be extracted from water via electrolysis or separated from carbon fossil fuels. Both of these processes require a significant amount of energy, which can be more than that gained from the hydrogen itself, as well as being expensive. Additionally, this extraction typically requires the use of fossil fuels, which in the absence of an appropriate Combined Charging System (CCS) undermines the green credentials of hydrogen.

 

• . Storage and transportation of hydrogen is significantly more complex than that required for fossil fuels.

 

• . Because fossil fuels have been used for decades, the infrastructure for its distribution and use already exists. Large scale adoption of hydrogen fuel cell technology for automotive applications will require new refueling infrastructure to support it, although for long-range applications such as those for HGVs and delivery trucks, likely start-to-end refueling will be required.

 

Raw Materials Costs. Precious metals, such as platinum and iridium, are typically required as catalysts in fuel cells and some types of water electrolysers, thus the initial cost of fuel cells (and electrolysers) can be high. This high cost has deterred some from investing in hydrogen fuel cell technology. Such costs need to be reduced in order to make hydrogen fuel cells a feasible fuel source for all.

 

Overall Cost. The cost for a unit of power from hydrogen fuel cells is currently greater than other energy sources, including solar panels. This may change as technology advances, but currently this cost is a barrier to widespread use of hydrogen even though it is more efficient once produced. This expense also impacts costs further down the line, such as with the price of hydrogen operated vehicles, making widespread adoption unlikely at the moment.

 

• . Hydrogen is highly flammable in air (oxygen), with a low ignition temperature in concentrations in air ranging from 4% to 75% and can be ignited with a small spark.

 

Regulatory Issues. There are also barriers around regulatory issues concerning the framework that defines commercial deployment models. Without clear regulatory frameworks to allow commercial projects to understand their cost and revenue basis, commercial projects can struggle to reach a financial investment decision (FID).

 

Investment is Required. Hydrogen fuel cells need a large investment in development and infrastructure to resolve the various issues preventing it from becoming a genuinely viable energy source. This also will require the political will in multiple countries to invest the time and money improve and mature the technology. Put simply, the global challenge for development of widespread and sustainable hydrogen energy is how best to incrementally build the ‘supply and demand’ chain in the most cost-effective manner.

 

• Other Non-viable Feedstocks Being Explored

 

These include yeast, coal, ammonia, farm animal feces/urine and municipal sewage, all of which are not viable for the reasons indicated above and many others.

 

A Strategically Viable Solution – Summit’s Splants Feedstock Produced in Its Cultivatron

 

At first, the Cultivatron (where the Splants feedstock is cultivated in tiers) can be confused, understandably, with vertical farming.It is everything but that...

 

As discussed above, 102 Million SqKm of land (68% of the available land space on the Planet) is needed to grow sufficient organic feedstock to produce most of the currently required and projected quantities of green fuels; however…

 

• Dividing the 102 Million SqKm by 44 Cultivation Tiers = 2.3 Million SqKm, then

 

• Dividing by 4 (8 crops year versus 2 in nature, enabled, in part, by the Splant hybridization and a proprietary controlled environment and soilless growing media) = 0.58 Million SqKm, then

 

• Dividing by 5 (the increased density of the Splant plant and its seed content per square meter resulting, in part, from the Splant hybridization) = 0.116 Million  SqKm,

 

goes from needing almost all the land mass of the planet to an area that is equal to just the size of the State of Ohio (USA), but spread out globally, ultimately by thousands of relatively very small local modular units.

 

Further importantly:

 

• The Cultivatron houses a unique ecosystem. It is a stand-alone modular Facility with a circular, closely regulated and controlled environment (e.g., temperature, humidity, light, other) with essentially no interface with or impacts from the environment outside of the Facility. .

 

• All Cultivatron Facilities are designed to be powered by local wind and solar to the maximum extent possible, with backup capabilities in the event of failures provided by independent generators and/or through connection to the local power grid, as appropriate.

 

• Water consumption in the Cultivatron is optimally regulated to be highly efficient (approximately 15% of the amount used in agriculture) and the minimum required, where the water that is not absorbed and used by the Splants is recovered, recycled and re-used.  Alternatively in nature, irrigation water that actually can be used beneficially by the field crops typically is less than 20% of the water supplied to the crop.

 

• The closed Cultivatron environment, along with hybridization of the Splants, effectively eliminates funguses and other such plant issues; thereby essentially also eliminating the need for fungicides.

 

• As Splants are not food products, color, taste and format and other such characteristics important to food crops are not relevant to the ultimate use of Splants as a fuel/energy feedstock. Thus, most of the complexity and related cost associated with the vertical farming of food or ornamental flowers is not applicable to the Cultivatron and the cultivation of Splants.

 

• As Splants is a hybridized plant that is created and cultivated in a Cultivatron Facility and not a GMO, the risk of contaminating agricultural food crops is close to non-existent.

 

• The Cultivatron is highly automated, minimizing labor and the many associated issues and costs.

 

• As the green fuel/energy producer owns, operates and controls the Cultivatron, the Splants Feedstock will never be a commodity, which availability and price is subject to variable, and often increasing and volatile, costs and other market factors, which currently is, and going forward will increasingly continue to be, the situation with waste and other third-party feedstocks.

 

• Employing Summits NuSFX module (the proprietary system that breaks open the plant cells and extracts 97.5+% of the seeds oil vs. typically 70% by the existing alternative processes) to precondition the Splants, then instead of needing an area similar to the State of Ohio, only an area smaller than the area of Switzerland would be required to supply global requirements.

 

Financial projections/considerations are generated pursuant to a Customer’s specific requirements. For example, in one case:

 

• Equipment was calculated at market prices with NO negotiation to reflect scale savings.

 

• Energy, both wind and solar were considered at the average market price per Mw for both equipment and maintenance.

 

• Labor was considered at Developed Country levels, where all labor laws with impact on overtime work, insurances, paid vacations, etc., were considered at USA comparable indexes.

 

• Re-integration of investment in buildings and equipment were calculated to 10 years for equipment and 15 years for buildings.

 

• Investment and interests were calculated for a short-term payback period of 5 years including 24 months for the unit installation and 3 years of commercial operations.

 

• The prices for the commercial outputs of Gas, SAF or Diesel, Asphalt, Glycerin and Fertilizers were considered at current market prices at the refinery gate for Fossil Fuels and other products, with no inclusion of subsidies or CO2 credits.

 

• The 5 year projections included expected labor cost increases concurrent with the Country expected wage evolution

 

• The CIT tax used was 21%

 

• All considered, the commercial facility in this case would have a net profit of 24% to 26% in the first 5 years of activity. This was based on implementing the full Summit Solution (i.e., the Cultivatron, NuSFX, NuFuel Refinery and unique NuGas 4-Stage/Multi-Phase Biodigester Modules).

 

• “Thinking outside the box” into the future, if desired for security, cost or other reasons, the Cultivatron is the only form of cultivation that can be operated underground, as well as the NuSFX Module. In that case, there will be no need to use surface land, the energy consumed to maintain a stable environment will be less, and structures will not be affected by the elements. In this case, for example, a glade or forest could be planted to consume CO2 and release O2 by photosynthesis.

 

By eliminating feedstock collection, sorting and transportation, and having a feedstock – Splants, that is consistent, high quality and commodity market resistant, and being able to efficiently pre-condition the Splants and scale the Solution to any scale and locate it nearly anywhere (especially at or proximate to where the fuels/energy are needed), provides the capability to:

 

• retrofit existing facilities that are employing expensive waste feedstocks to use Splants and stop hemorrhaging money, 

 

• achieve fuel and energy independence, and

 

• Transition to Green and Net Zero that not only is possible but practical, convenient, economically viable, globally scalable and feasible to sustainably produce renewable fuels/energy that are cost comparable with the fossil equivalents and financially profitable.

 

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Is there another way of achieving the Transition to Green and Net Zero that is viable?  

We think not!