TOPELL ENERGY RAISES EUR13 MILLION AND STRENGTHENS ITS LEADERSHIP IN THE BIOMASS TORREFACTION SECTOR

The Netherlands, Topell Energy B.V. ("Topell"), a leader in the field of biomass torrefaction technology, announces the completion of a EUR13 million financing round alongside a significant strengthening of its intellectual property position.

Yellow&Blue Clean Energy Investment Management jointly led the funding with Topell's existing investor, Innogy Venture Capital. Additional parties investing in the financing round include Innovatie- en Investeringsfonds Gelderland B.V., a provincial investment fund managed by PPM Oost, a Dutch regional development company, management team members and business angels.

Jules Kortenhorst, appointed CEO of Topell Energy earlier this year, explains: "Nature provides a wide diversity of biomass, which is not directly suitable as an energy source. Topell's proprietary torrefaction technology transforms the low-grade biomass into a homogenous and energy-dense fuel, which is suitable for combustion and gasification applications. The additional financing will allow us to ramp up production at our commercial-scale demonstration plant in the Netherlands and to rapidly grow our business through the sale of additional plants."

Topell has additionally signed a new partnership agreement with the Torftech Group from the UK, whose TORBED(R) reactors have been at the heart of Topell's torrefaction process. The reactors enable gas and solids to be contacted more efficiently. The company has now secured the manufacturing rights to build and improve Torftech's TORBED(R) reactors for torrefaction applications.

Topell has developed a torrefaction process, which is cost effective and enables large-scale production of densified biofuel from woody biomass. There are significant benefits associated with the use of such biofuel across the entire biomass-to-energy supply chain, including lower cost transportation and storage and more efficient conversion of biomass into heat and power. The company intends to sell its torrefaction technology solutions to biomass supply chain companies around the world.

Albert Fischer, Managing Director of Yellow&Blue Investment Management, commented: "We are excited about Topell's prospects because the torrefaction step is instrumental in unlocking the potential of biomass for large-scale energy production. With this investment in Topell, Yellow&Blue is further broadening its engagement in the field of clean energy production."

Crispin Leick, Managing Director of Innogy Venture Capital said: "Having supported Topell from seed funding until today, we are very pleased to see how the company has developed from a startup with an exciting idea to the best positioned technology supplier for the leading European utilities in the biomass sector. Torrefaction based on Topell's technology has the potential to change the biomass value chain as it is known today."

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/topell-energy-raises-eur13-million-and-strengthens-its-leadership-in-the-biomass-torrefaction-sector-2012-06-11