Washington DC Energy & Environmental Funders

Hosting Sponsor:
Andrews Kurth LLP

The Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc., will sponsor its next Washington, DC Energy & Environmental Funders’ meeting on Friday April 4, 2008.

BioFuels Manufacturers of Illinois, LLC, is developing, and will own and operate, a 45 million gallon biodiesel production facility near Mapleton, Illinois, in the center of the state, and scale it to 60 million gallons a year in two years.

BioFuels has a 34.5 acre site on fully developed industrial land in an Enterprise Zone, with access to rail, port and interstate highway transportation. It has supply advantages of being the only bio-diesel plant in a 100 mile radius, and there are only two others in the entire state. The state currently has a supply-demand gap of over 150 million gallons per year. The company has an outstanding group of partners, fixed cost design, engineering and construction contacts, offtake contracts in place, and about $5 million grant from the state is stipulated.. The plant will be built with the lean and clean Desmet Ballestra technology, which uses negligible water; produces minimal waste, water effluents or air emissions; and consumes very little energy. Moreover, it is flexible in its use of feedstocks.

That is important because, as is well known, the use of food crops for fuel, along with the large global growth of populations that can afford more and better food, have forced food prices so high that many people the world over are having to do with less. Food riots in several countries are but the most visible and violent manifestation of a problem that appears to pit biofuels against food-climate health against adequate nutrition.

Sudhir Seth, President & CEO, BioFuels Manufacturers of Illinois, LLC, and Serin Rao, CTO and Project Director are attacking that problem head-on by working with research labs to develop a new crop for its feedstock-Pennycress, a member of the mustard family that is also known as stinkweed and frenchweed. Pennycress is 36% oil-double that found in soybeans-and grows in the winter months, thereby allowing double-cropping and providing winter ground cover, which helps to stem soil erosion. Plus, it requires little or no fertilizer or pesticides and can be harvested with very little modifications to the existing equipments. Pennycress is being studied and grown in trial plots to test its various attributes, e.g. depth, density and timing of planting. Seth has a 20 acre field of Pennycress planted on a plot next to his proposed site, which he just acquired from Caterpillar, Inc. and another plot of 10 acres nearby in Peoria County.

The company has commitments for $5 million in equity and is raising another $5 to $10 million in equity and $25 million in senior debt to complete its financing.

Sector Expert: Larry Schafer, Senior Adviser at the National Biodiesel Board, will provide an update on current legislation concerning biodiesel, and discuss Pennycress in the context of other second generation biofuel feedstocks.

Date: Friday, April 4, 2008
Time: 8:00 – 10:00 am
Place: Andrews Kurth LLP
1350 I Street, NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20006
202-662-2700

Nearest Metro stop: The building is between 13th and 14th Street. You can exit at McPherson Square and cross the street to the building or exit Metro Center on 13th Street (and G Street) and walk up to 13th and I, where you make a left and cross the street.

Cost: $50 if you pre-register.
Cash or checks (payable to CEEP) accepted. Must register or cancel by 4pm the previous day. No shows will be invoiced.
$60 if you pay at the door.
See below for Annual Registration opportunities and other important conditions.

Agenda:
8:00 to 8:20 – Networking with Members
8:30 to 9:00 – Presentation by Sudhir Seth, President & CEO, and Serin Rao, CTO of BioFuels Manufacturers of Illinois, LLC
9:00 to 9:30 – Presentation by Sector Expert: Larry Schafer, Senior Adviser at the National Biodiesel Board
9:30 to 10:00 – Discussion and Networking

Thank you, and we look forward to seeing you at the next DC Funders meeting.

If you have any questions about registration or need more information about the program, please contact Gelvin Stevenson at gelvin@optonline.net.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

Sudhir Seth, President & CEO, is an Electrical Engineer. Sudhir graduated (1969) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur in India, in one of the highest ranking Technical Schools built in collaboration of nine leading American Universities such as MIT and Stanford. Sudhir earned his MBA degree from SUNY New York.

Sudhir has more than 38 years of experience in setting up Green Field projects and managing businesses both as an entrepreneur and as a Corporate Executive. In his most recent job he worked as Vice President in an IT service provider corporation as a SBU Head.

Sudhir is a results-driven executive with over 38 years of experience of leading business strategy, operations, sales and technical teams. He possesses extensive experience with highly engineered systems which require deep understanding of critical business drivers, in multiple markets and industries. Sudhir combines strong general management capabilities with outstanding performance in leading and managing technology and brick and mortar organizations. He is very adapt and successful in building relationships with decision makers, seizing control of critical problem areas and delivering on customer and stake holders commitments. He has displayed organizational leadership and operations management skills of high degree and caused performance, productivity and quality improvements under difficult situations.

Sudhir set up Green Field projects for the manufacturing of electrical equipment such as transformers and switch gears, writing and printing paper, and textiles. He has set up and managed software development facilities and BPO and call centers in the United Sates and in India. He has managed and motivated teams comprising of more than 2000 employees in multiple locations.

Sudhir will oversee and supervise the business, marketing and financial side of the venture.

Sudhir, along with other associates, has extensive entrepreneurial and corporate experience setting up Green Field projects in process and chemical industry. They bring more than 75 years of technical and business experience to the venture and shall be working full time to implement and run the Project.

Serin Rao, Project Director & CTO, offers more than 37 years of industrial and regulatory experience in manufacturing, environmental, health, and safety with expertise in management, engineering, design, consultation, enforcement, planning, development, treatment feasibility, construction, superfund remediation, capital projects financing, risk assessment, and audits. Serin possess detailed working knowledge of local, state, federal and international regulations and multi-media permitting (CAAA, CWA, RCRA, HSWA, CERCLA, EPCRA, SDWA, UST, FDA, TSCA, OSHA, DOT, FIFRA).

Serin has successfully worked in the areas of reducing toxic waste and air releases, implementing innovative water and waste water treatment and pollution controls, minimizing hazards exposures to both community and workers, reducing incidence rates and cost containment in workplace, bringing manufacturing plants into compliance with governmental regulations and building "environmentally and energy friendly" plants. Serin has expertise in implementation of chemical process plants and safety management, ISO:RC 14001, ISO 9002 and knowledge in lean manufacturing and six sigma. He has successfully worked in management positions in Project, Technical and Project areas in the Oleo Chemical Plants such as Degussa for almost 20 years and in the Environmental and Regulatory compliance areas with the EPA and other government organizations for about 17 years. He has experience of both sides.

Education:

• BS, Chemical Engineering/ Oil Technology minor;
• MS, Thermal and Environmental Engineering;
• Executive MBA, University of Illinois.

License/Registration:

• Registered Professional Engineer, State of Illinois
• Board Certified Environmental Engineer, AAEE
• Board Certified Safety professional (CSP)
• Registered Environmental Health Professional, NEHA
• Community Leadership School, Peoria Area CC

Advisory Board
Zachary Alexander, ebT Design, LLC
Bob Lawrence, Bob Lawrence & Associates
Mark Riedy, Andrews Kurth LLC
Ira Rubenstein, Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc.
Gelvin Stevenson, Ph.D., Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc.
Michael Ware, Advance Capital Markets, Inc.

DCE&EF Pricing Policy
1. Cost, with pre-registration up to 4pm the day before the meeting: $50.
2. No-shows will be invoiced.
3. Cancellations allowed until 4pm the day before the meeting.
4. Cost, with registration at the door the day of the meeting: $60.
5. All paid registrants will be emailed any information made available electronically for that meeting.
6. An Annual Registration for DCE&EF can be purchased for $400. It will provide admittance to all regularly scheduled meetings held during a 12-month period.
7. Annual registrants will be emailed any information made available electronically for any of the regularly scheduled meetings covered by their annual registration.

Formed in February 2004, DC Energy & Environmental Funders (DCE&EF) is a joint service of Investors Circle, the Energy & Environmental Capital Network (ECN), the Environmental Business Association of New York State, Inc. (EBA/NYS), Investors Circle and Cleantech Venture Network LLC (Cleantech). DCE&EF provides networking, information, and other services to investors interested in energy and environmental companies. DCE&EF activities are produced by the Center for Economic and Environmental Partnership, Inc. (CEEP) in furtherance of its educational mission.

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