ICM Inc. is pleased to announce that Patriot Renewable Fuels LLC of Annawan, Illinois, has entered into a professional services agreement for ICM’s patent-pending Fiber Separation Technology and ICM’s patent-pending Generation 1.5 Grain Fiber to Cellulosic Ethanol Technology (Gen 1.5) for its ethanol plant.

FST is a value-added platform technology that increases ethanol yield and throughput, as well as increases oil recovery for its customers. The FST process separates the fiber that will be used as the feedstock for the Gen 1.5 process to produce cellulosic ethanol. Removing the fiber from the standard ethanol stream with the FST process allows the plant to produce each gallon more efficiently as well as creates the option for diversified co-products with high protein feeds and fiber to be produced.

Chris Mitchell, president of ICM, said, “ICM is pleased to see Patriot take another step forward toward cellulosic ethanol by agreeing to complete the specific engineering and design of our technologies for their Annawan site.  This step will enable their board to evaluate a construction start in 2015.  We appreciate Patriot’s continuing business as it continues to build on ICM’s base ethanol plant and our Selective Milling Technology. Patriot will be positioning itself to lead our industry into cellulosic ethanol, which not only diversifies its plant, but improves ethanol yield to over 3.08 gallons per bushel. Our team is excited to continue working with Patriot as it grows its business.”

“ICM’s ethanol technology is a logical platform on which to build our business as a biorefinery,” said Rick Vondra, vice president and general manager of Patriot Renewable Fuels. “There are many new products and growth possibilities using corn as our feedstock, and we have identified these as two high-potential processes that we can adopt now.”