Copenhagen Denmark – December 23, 2014 – Steeper Energy Aps, a Danish-Canadian clean-fuel company, has been awarded a € 1.8 million grant from the Executive Agency for Small and Medium- sized Enterprises (EASME) – EUROPEAN COMMISSION Horizon 2020. The € 1.8 million grant provides support to Steeper Energy from April 2015 to April 2017. Horizon 2020 is the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme that accelerates early stage companies to commercialize their innovative technologies/products.

The ambition for this H2020 Project is to pave-the-way for commercialization and implementation of Steeper Energy Aps’ (SEA) innovative hydrothermal liquefaction technology platform: Hydrofaction™. The proprietary technology is a highly efficient method to produce renewable fuel oil, Hydrofaction™ Oil, with properties similar to petroleum fuel oils. Timely commercialization will be achieved by bringing Hydrofaction™ to market via testing, scale-up and demonstration. Based on a proven new chemical process using renewable low-cost (non-food) feedstocks, Hydrofaction™ Oil can be burned in combined heat and power (CHP) applications, used as a substitute for low-sulphur marine diesel or may be upgraded to diesel or jet fuel via built-for-purpose or traditional petroleum refineries. The Project will advance the design of the Hydrofaction™ technology platform and mature the Company’s preparedness to attract new investment while advancing the technology readiness level from 6 to 8, which is a critical step toward the commercialization of Hydrofaction™. The Project objectives include: optimizing the product offering to meet the needs of technology users (licensees) and their customers (oil buyers) by lowering the risks associated with the performance of future commercial plants; identification of drop in points for Hydrofaction™ Oil in the fuels market; and, determination of optimal Hydrofaction™ Oil specifications. Within the design of the Project, Hydrofaction™ Oil will be produced from feedstocks provided by potential commercial partners and then subjected to comprehensive testing at certified laboratories. Potential licensees expect that the scaled demonstration plant, almost two orders of magnitude larger than Steeper Energy’s current ½ barrel per day (BPD)Pilot Plant, will be representative in both physical design and operations to subsequent full-scale 2000 BPD commercial plants which will transform large amounts of biomass residuals to Hydrofaction™ Oil to be upgraded to renewable diesel.

Additional information on the project is available at http://www.cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/196405_en.html.