Aemetis Achieves Major Project Milestone by Receiving Authority To Construct Permits for ‘Carbon Zero’ Renewable Fuels Plant

Air Permits Allow Up to Three Gasifiers to Process Waste Orchard and Forest Wood

CUPERTINO, Calif., April 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire ‒ Aemetis, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMTX), a renewable natural gas and renewable fuels company focused on negative carbon intensity products, announced that the company has received nineteen permits granting the Authority To Construct (ATC) from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District related to the Aemetis ‘Carbon Zero’ renewable fuels project in Riverbank, California.  Each permit states a specific set of equipment and the conditions for operation of each unit.

“The Authority To Construct air permits are a significant permitting milestone for the construction of the Aemetis renewable fuels biorefinery at the 142-acre Riverbank Industrial Complex,” stated Eric McAfee, Chairman and CEO of Aemetis.  “The engineering, application and review process required several years of work by our technical team with the support of several environmental consultants. The collaborative, supportive approach taken by the regional air district enabled this process to move forward at a steady pace,” added McAfee. 

“We are thankful to the staff at the San Joaquin Valley APCD for their diligent and professional work,” McAfee said.  “We can now begin the fabrication of equipment by vendors and expand our project team to ramp up the construction process, creating more than $200 million of planned investment and employment in the Central Valley as we build and operate the biorefinery.” 

The Carbon Zero biorefinery is scheduled to be completed and begin operations in year 2023, then double production capacity by year 2025.  

The project is supported by $17 million of grant funding from the California Energy Commission and the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority (CAEATFA).

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 and other renewable oils to produce low carbon intensity renewable jet and diesel fuel using cellulosic hydrogen from waste orchard and forest wood, while pre-extracting cellulosic sugars from the waste wood 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 biorefinery in Riverbank, California, our compliance with governmental programs, and the ability to access markets and funding to execute our business plan.  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