Exelus Inc develops and licenses âCleaner-by-Designâ chemical technologies to produce a vast array of products and materials used in consumer products, transportation and food processing. The companyâs green technologies are based on proprietary engineered-catalytic systems that can achieve a quantum performance jump over conventional catalysts. Exelus is working to permanently reduce the dependence on foreign oil and hopes that within five years its contribution will be a biofuel made from switchgrass, 7 foot stalks that grow wild in North American prairies and resemble weeds. Scientists for Switchgrass research havenât been able to find a yeast or catalyst to break it down fast enough; however they have claimed to have solved that problem using a chemical reaction that converts switchgrass into fuel quickly. A full-size reactor can churn out 4,000 gallons a day. For the conversion process to remain efficient, plants would need to be no more than 15 miles away from switchgrass crops. Exelusâs estimates that the facilities would cost about $45 million to build, a fraction of what it would cost for a typical ethanol plant or oil refinery. Exelus focuses on research and development, then licenses its work to companies with the capital to build plants. Exelus researchers say their process can churn out 140 gallons of fuel with one ton of swi
