GLOBAL BIOENERGIES obtains a €400,000 grant from the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF) to produce renewable gasoline additives - Audi will use these for engine testing

Global Bioenergies obtains a €400,000 grant from the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education (BMBF) to produce renewable gasoline additives - Audi will use these for engine testing

Leuna (Germany), 04 July 2016 - Global Bioenergies announces today that its German subsidiary, Global Bioenergies GmbH, secured a €400.000 grant from the BMBF (the German federal ministry for research and education) to finance a 14 month-project aimed at producing renewable gasoline additives.

The Company will first produce ETBE, a molecule obtained by the condensation of Ethanol and isobutene, and presently used as a gasoline additive in large volumes (worldwide market: 3.4 million tons per year). Today, ETBE is only half renewable, as the isobutene used to produce it is derived from oil. For the first time ever, 100% renewable ETBE will be produced at laboratory scale, with the collaboration of the Fraunhofer CBP institute: Isobutene produced at Global Bioenergies' Pomacle pilot plant will be converted into ETBE at the Leuna-based Fraunhofer CBP institute, which will then be shipped to Audi for laboratory testing.

The company will then convert the first batches of bio-isobutene to be produced from the Leuna Demo plant into large enough quantities of renewable isooctane for running preliminary engine testing at Audi.

Reiner Mangold, Head of Sustainable Product Development at Audi, states: "The samples received last year from Global Bioenergies are now validated analytically. We are eager to receive larger batches to run preliminary engine testing. Our collaboration with Global Bioenergies, to develop e-gasoline (Audi e-benzin) is getting up to speed."

Ales Bulc, CEO of Global Bioenergies GmbH, concludes: "We thank the BMBF, as well as the Projektträger Jülich in charge of the detailed evaluation of the technology, for their renewed support. We are presently intensifying our efforts to have our Demo plant up and running this autumn."

About GLOBAL BIOENERGIES

Global Bioenergies is one of the few companies worldwide, and the only one in Europe, that is developing a process to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. The Company initially focused its efforts on the production of isobutene, one of the most important petrochemical building blocks that can be converted into fuels, plastics, organic glass and elastomers. Global Bioenergies continues to improve the performances of its process, operates its industrial pilot, builds its demo plant in Germany, and prepares the first full-scale plant through a Joint-Venture with Cristal Union, named IBN-One. The company also replicated its achievement to propylene and butadiene, two members of the gaseous olefins family, key molecules at the heart of petrochemical industry. Global Bioenergies is listed on Alternext, Euronext Paris (FR0011052257 - ALGBE).

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Contact

GLOBAL BIOENERGIES
Thomas BUHL
Head of Business Development
Phone:                 +33 (0)1 64 98 20 50
Email: thomas.buhl@global-bioenergies.com