Comité Natural Resources & Environment de la Cámara de Representantes, 19 de febrero de 2026

Transcripción

164 turnos. Seleccione un tiempo para reproducir ese momento del video.

1. 0:12:17

   morning y'all.

2. 0:12:22

   We'll begin in about two or three minutes.

3. 0:12:40

   I used to teach school. This is a good thing. When y'all get in your chairs and are quiet, then the, then the lesson can begin. We'll begin right at 8:00, so we have a couple of minutes.

4. 0:12:57

   Oh, Craig, just checking on you down there. You all right?

5. 0:13:00

   I'm all right.

6. 0:13:00

   All right.

7. 0:13:01

   Make sure nobody helps you. I don't wanna confuse anyone by sitting over there with you guys.

8. 0:13:06

   No, I was just observing that. This is the left side. This is our right side, but you're in your right mind.

9. 0:13:14

   Yes, ma'am.

10. 0:13:20

    So I think we're trying to get some water. Y'all have your water and everything? Okay. Anybody wants to have public comment, we do have a sign-up sheet.

11. 0:13:53

    So, um, we don't see anybody stepping forward.

12. 0:14:01

    Get in there. Get in.

13. 0:14:02

    Sorry.

14. 0:14:15

    That thing's a work of beauty.

15. 0:14:16

    Yeah.

16. 0:14:19

    So good morning, everyone. Welcome to Natural Resources and Environment Committee, um, the House Natural Resources and Environment Committee. We begin our pro- our meetings always with a prayer if you'll, uh, Representative Smith.

17. 0:14:33

    Thank you, Madam Chair. Y'all pray with me. Lord, what a, what a great day you've given us and allow us to get up this morning, walk around. Help us to be attentive of what's going on. Uh, help us to understand the will that you have for each one of us. And you know each heart in all of us. Um, lead, guide, and direct us to make the right decisions for the citizens of Georgia, and be with our families back home, our children and our grandchildren. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

18. 0:15:07

    Amen. So this morning, um, as a quick introduction, last week we had Forestry Day at the Capitol, and a lot of people gather in the suite I'm in, 228 at the Capitol, 'cause we have agriculture, game, fish, and parks, and all the natural resources in that area. And so just by serendipity, karma, whatever you wanna say it, um, the conversations were about some crises that are going on with forestry. And, um, then we had, uh, somebody I know who does maps, he's a forester, and draws maps, antique maps of, of the area in and around the Chattahoochee River.

19. 0:15:47

    And he knew of the presenters today who are going to, um, ex- give us some insight into a, a very new product and a very new initiative that, um, is kinda uplifting to a lot of people. So very quickly, um, the company's called Revatera, and it means renew the Earth. And so in a way, it's building a new category of renewable field- fuel. So Jude Davies, the CEO and co-founder, will now begin the program.

20. 0:16:18

    And afterwards if we have time, we can casually get together and, and talk about it. So, and we will have time for questions. You know the routine and, and how we do that. But, um, let's see. Where's our mic? And he's gon- he's... All right, so Jude, you're on.

21. 0:16:36

    Thank you, Madam Chair, and the members of the committee for having us here today. I'm, I'm also joined, um, by my team. So my, uh, CTO and co-founder, Joe Napier, sitting to my right. And then at the podium there is Thomas Gruber, who is our head of engineering. And next to Joe is Grayson Parker, who is our head of forestry operations.

22. 0:17:04

    All right.

23. 0:17:05

    Thank you.

24. 0:17:07

    So we're gonna turn the program over to y'all, and so go ahead now with, um, the video.

25. 0:17:14

    Yeah, so I'll just kick us off. So just to echo Jude, um, you know, Madam Chair, uh, members of the committee, thanks for really having us. Jude and I are super excited to talk a little bit about the product, uh, our company, Revatera, and things we're passionate about. So I really just wanna start with the problems that Jude and I set out to solve. So it feels like every time I open the news lately, I don't know about you guys, you see about there's this increase in energy demand, there's data centers, there's powerful AI agents, and these tools can be very useful, but they require a lot of energy, they require a lot of infrastructure.

26. 0:17:45

    So there's been a real struggle to how do we meet this challenge in rising energy demand, cheap dispatchable energy. Now, at the same time, what we've seen for, um, a lot of different industries, but especially for us hitting forestry in the Southeast, is really this biomass oversupply problem. So pulp industry, paper industry, you know, we're seeing, you know, less and less demand for a lot of these small timber things that we traditionally diverted these biomass streams to. So we kinda looked at these two problems, and we actually saw a lot of synergy.

27. 0:18:17

    You know, could we do two birds, one stone, and come up with a drop-in solution? And so basically what we did is we, we, we sat down and we said, "How can we take this biomass oversupply and really use it to meet this surging energy demand?" So we came up with a product called Arcana Biocole, really to take this stream, upgrade it, really perform at the level you normally see out of a fossil fuel, so something that is both clean and high energy, and that would allow us to have a market solution for this biomass oversupply while meeting this energy demand, having decrease in emissions, and absorb the stranded biomass streams.

28. 0:18:55

    So that's what, uh, we created, but kind of, uh, want to talk quickly about the how. So we built an AI optimization engine. So I'll talk a little bit more about my background later, but I worked a lot with the Department of Energy in thinking about biomass, and specifically, why did biomass not get as much widespread adoption the first time around? And there was a couple problems. The logistics weren't great. Uh, we, you know, we picked feedstocks that were giant grasses. No one's really farming those. The energy was a little too low, which means you had to increase volume.

29. 0:19:26

    Um, they weren't water-resistant enough, a lot of the biomass products, which means cheap storage would be very difficult and humidity would cause it to crack apart. So we looked across the history of all these different problems, and we built a model to come up with basically additive cocktails that could fix all these problems. So in other words, how do we upgrade a biomass into a superior product that could be a true drop-in replacement in existing fossil fuel infrastructure? So this model drives the creation of our products and kind of allows us, um, to create these drop-in products that can work in existing utilities and CapEx.

30. 0:20:03

    So we decided Georgia was the state, uh, for our company to headquarter, um, the operations. And the reason for that is Georgia is the number one timber state, and it offers the biggest opportunity for our product in terms of access to the resources that we need to, to manufacture this product. Um, when you look at, uh, Georgia and the adjacent states a-across the southeastern part of the United States, our SOM is four hundred million.

31. 0:20:35

    So what that allows us to do is actually set up our, uh, operations with a focus over the next one to three years, um, in, in the state with the opportunity to take our product and drop it into existing infrastructure. And what that means is that we do not, nor do our customers, need to invest tens of millions of dollars to retrofit or add to their, uh, manufacturing facility to use our product. So when we think about the deficit or the, um, the, the, the gap that we see in energy and the demand in energy, especially around AI data centers, we need that energy today.

32. 0:21:17

    Um, we have companies that are looking to invest tens of millions of dollars to manufacture something new that could take years, if not a decade, to, to build. Our product today can drop into existing infrastructure with little to no, uh, retrofit, and that means that we are able to, uh, uh, produce something that is available in months versus years. So Joe mentioned our Arcana Biocole.

33. 0:21:48

    Uh, we have actually done a run of this product and sent it out for third-party testing. And in doing that testing, what we've learned, and it's confirmed through our AI modeling, that the product, uh, outperforms all grades of coal as well as wood pellets. And so what that means to customers across all of the metrics that they're interested in and that they need in terms of the performance of the product is that they have a product today that in the past, this industry has had to choose either a high-performing product or a clean product.

34. 0:22:23

    We've removed that choice off the table. They can have the best of both worlds with Arcana. Okay. So we've also identified three revenue streams. Um, this is our path to revenue in the next one year, twelve to fourteen months, um, and that's listed right here on the left of the slide. But what's really important is that we are asset light, which means, again, we can avoid any heavy investment or heavy CapEx.

35. 0:22:54

    Our customers do not need to retrofit their systems. This delivers strong unit economics for our company of fifty-five to sixty percent, which goes directly down to the profit margin of around thirty-five to forty percent. And again, it gives us a clear path in terms of our three-year trajectory to a hundred and fifty million dollars in revenue.

36. 0:23:18

    We have also, um, been working with all of the constituents, so we're looking at not just customers, but partnerships with the Georgia, um, ecosystem, so that includes feedstock suppliers and pellet producers. Um, we are actually on target to move to commercial production in this quarter. We have already signed an agreement with a, um, a manufacturer in the southeast of Georgia. Um, we are due to launch that pilot run within the next three weeks, so that's good to go.

37. 0:23:53

    Um, we are anticipating the results to deliver, uh, what he needs to then go after a market that allows him to potentially export this product outside of Georgia. So keeping the manufacturing here, the hub, you know, of Georgia, and, um, um, capturing, um, opportunity outside of the state. So that's a really great opportunity for him, and it's a great opportunity for RevaTerra, and it's a better opportunity for the state of Georgia.

38. 0:24:25

    Um, we have also been invited and accepted an invitation to, um, be part of the ATDC Accelerate program.

39. 0:24:34

    We joined in December, so we- we've been with the program for a couple of months now, and they have really opened up a network for us, um, in terms of the Georgia ecosystem, um, access to potential partners and suppliers, and that's been really, really helpful. We just in, uh, January 20th and 21st, we filed our first t- uh, patent on the 20th. It's a non-provisional. And on the 21st, our second patent. The first one is for our AI platform.

40. 0:25:04

    The second one is for our material formulation. Um, both patents, um, um, are expedited, so we're expecting to have those approved within twelve months. Um, what is exciting about these patents is that our attorney and, um, um, a, a second attorney who worked with us, he was with the USPTO office, and both have agreed that our patent and our technology is defensible and that we can move forward with the non-provisional. So that's really exciting for us.

41. 0:25:35

    And then finally, um, we are, um, developing the relationships with the government and public policymakers, working with Georgia Link and Skin, who is sitting right behind me, and that's been really great in terms of just having, again, uh, the opportunity to present our technology and our company to all of you and others to, um, really share our vision and how we can really help, uh, the, uh, the State of Georgia in, in the crisis that it's in, in terms of, um, the, the, the, the mills.

42. 0:26:09

    Yeah. So I wanna talk a little bit about our team. So I think you heard Jude introduce us at the beginning. Um, but Jude, she's my co-founder, our CEO. Uh, she has a great background in deep tech, semiconductor industry, so really navigating new and novel products to the market, looking across the global marketplace, and really has those connections that's allowed us to gain that rapid momentum. So my background is in plant biology, which is a fancy way to say I rip plants apart and put them back together for some other purpose besides being a plant. Um, I was with, uh, Syngenta as one of their R&D directors for a while, where I worked on special projects and initiatives in- including things like biofuels.

43. 0:26:48

    We're also lucky to have Thomas Gruber is our head of engineering. Uh, got his master's in mechanical engineering from Auburn. Great background in automation, so we have a lot of custom tooling. Uh, we like to automate things and really streamline, so he's been a very valuable member of the team getting us up and running on the R&D end. Um, new to the team, um, just gonna comment quickly, we've got Grayson as our head of forestry operations, and it's been great to bring him on and really forge some more partnerships and move forward in those areas. Um, we also have a great team of advisors.

44. 0:27:19

    So Joe Clark was actually a fellow at Syngenta in genomics and AI. He now is with Insadeep. He leads their agricultural AI initiatives, so really building really strong models to take agricultural outputs and turn them into useful products, so really great advisor to have on board. Uh, Glen is actually a president at Thermo Fisher. Uh, he'd been in the startup space before that, so again, taking science products to scale, understanding the regulatory market, another great advisor as we navigate that space. And Jonathan Parker, uh, been a forester for, you know, four decades.

45. 0:27:52

    Again, a lot of great advice, knows the infrastructure, knows the logistics, really helping us, uh, meet the right partners and get up to scale. So I just wanna talk a little bit about why we're so excited about, uh, Georgia as well. I think Jude's touched on some of this. But, you know, one of the things you heard me say at the beginning when we were looking at different feedstocks back at the DOE and back in the day at different projects is we pick things without great logistics. The one thing is forestry has great logistics. Georgia's been the number one forestry state for a while.

46. 0:28:22

    They know how to move biomass efficiently. You know, they know how to get products to different markets. So I mean, that was another huge advantage is that, you know, there's already great logistics and really knowledgeable people in the forestry industry. But some other impacts we think our product can have is healthier forest. So, you know, burning can be really hard. There's a lot of regulations. But you want open canopies because you want habitat for wildlife, and you wanna reduce your own wildfire risk. So basically, incentivizing removal of these small timber and all these other things can really create healthy ecosystem functioning.

47. 0:28:56

    So we think we can really incentivize that appropriate land management to really strengthen local ecosystems. Um, we also think, you know, given the demand that we've seen with a lot of partners in Europe, there's a really high demand for a premium product like this. People wanna move less volume and have much higher energy. Um, so we really think we can help stabilize the timber demand because there seems to be a really large market for a premium pellet that has high durability, that can survive the shipping in one piece, not break apart into fines, and really deliver that superior energy.

48. 0:29:27

    And lastly, you know, a lot of the different partners Jude and I have been talking to in the EU and Japan, they've got a lot of pressure to decarbonize. In many cases, they still have a lot of coal infrastructure online they don't wanna take off, so having a product that'll-- they can just drop in and really it counts as renewable in these countries and really meet those standards is a huge incentive for them because then there's not a massive capital change and they, they can really, uh, meet their energy transition goals.

49. 0:29:55

    So we have three, uh, major milestones that will help us get to our path to commer- commercialization. The first milestone is really about de-risking our product and getting it validated for commercial deployment. Um, as I mentioned earlier, we've already done that. We've sent it out for testing, and those results have actually, um, created the demand and interest from one of the, uh, manufacturers right here in Georgia to move forward with our product. So we've accomplished milestone one.

50. 0:30:27

    Milestone two is about taking that product and, uh, really expanding it throughout Georgia and the southeastern part of the United States and really prepare it for commercial deployment. So this gives us an opportunity to, again, just make sure this is what's going to work really well in terms of the needs of the customers, but also

51. 0:30:48

    prepare us for deployment outside of the United States, again, keeping the manufacturing and the production hub right here in the state of Georgia. And we are making really great progress in milestone two. And then milestone three is something that we see as several months out. Um, this is going to really just set up the company for, um, revenue generation and, um, really confirming the platform and validating that, um, for, uh, deployment outside of the United States. So that's the status of where we are, uh, with our path to commercialization.

52. 0:31:23

    And with that, that's the, um, conclusion of our presentation about our company and our product, and we would welcome any questions if you'd like to open that up for, for some discussion, madam.

53. 0:31:34

    Thank you very much. Uh, and go ahead and press the buttons if you have questions. We'll rotate around like we normally do. Um, I have the first question, I guess. So one of our problems is, is air quality and the combustion of whatever this product is. So how many particles... Compare what we do now to the particles that we'll deal with with this product.

54. 0:31:57

    Uh, are you saying, like, comparative to coal?

55. 0:31:59

    Mm-hmm.

56. 0:32:00

    It's at least 50% less emissions by every metric we've measured. Um, that's with co-burning. That's not even with a full replacement. Um, so I mean, it seems to be drastically less, but we'll have a much stronger answer for you when we finish these, uh, pilot trials we're actually doing with utilities this quarter.

57. 0:32:18

    And, and then compare it also with using natural gas. What, what would be the benefit there?

58. 0:32:25

    Yeah. I, I think once we, once we have the utility testing data, we'll be able to share the third-party data with you guys-

59. 0:32:30

    Oh. All right

60. 0:32:31

    ... if that would help.

61. 0:32:31

    So that's premature.

62. 0:32:32

    Yeah. Well-

63. 0:32:32

    Sorry.

64. 0:32:33

    ... uh, not really premature, but it's like lab scale-up and everything looks very positive.

65. 0:32:38

    Uh-huh.

66. 0:32:38

    But I'm a big believer in data, so when we finish the trials and actually at a commercial scale with these utilities, then it's easier to quantify.

67. 0:32:46

    So thank you. And I see a couple of legislators who are actually not on this committee, but come ahead up to, um, participate in this. This is one of our AI-driven guys. Eventually, he's gonna listen to AI for his brain, but right now- ... right now we wanna use it. So- ... uh, so if you have any questions, go ahead and push your buttons. And, uh, number 25, state your name and then, um, ask your question.

68. 0:33:14

    Thank you, Ms. Chairman. Um, my name's Derrick McCollum, and I, I had just a few questions. So what, what exactly is this? I mean, obviously I know it's a wood product, but is it like chip or you'd bring the logs in anyway? I mean, h- how, how... the different ways they would come in. And then the second question, I know, um, South Georgia's, you know, obviously a real big hub. But would you foresee doing this in North Georgia? Because I know in North Georgia we have a lot of waste material from clearing lots, and they really have nowhere to haul it to now.

69. 0:33:48

    So, um, I'd appreciate the answers to those.

70. 0:33:52

    Yeah. So, um, I'll, I'll take the first part and let Jude tackle the second part. So yeah, it's a pellet. Um, we actually partner with existing manufacturers, so one thing is, like, a lot of... And people in Georgia have been amazing, very receptive partners, but we actually work with existing producers and we fit into their CapEx without disrupting their product to produce ours. Um, so then it ends up going exactly through the pipeline they already have, same channels, could even go to the same ports. And then, uh, it has a really high PDI. So, uh, PDI stands for pellet density index, just how durable they are.

71. 0:34:26

    Uh, ours consistently scores 98 or higher. 100's the max. So they're a really tough product, so it's easy to transport long distances. Um, so really we fit entirely in the existing infrastructure.

72. 0:34:38

    And our product, um, because it's really driven by the chemic- chemistry of the AI platform, we can essentially take any biomass feedstock, um, from any region and a- any environment. And what that allows us to do is to provide a product and technology is, that's mobile, agile, and flexible. So we can, um, take any product from any region, so northeastern, northwestern Georgia, outside of the, uh, the state of Georgia and into Europe. So it does give us that, um, ability to move very quickly with some predictability in terms of what that product will deliver.

73. 0:35:15

    But to a que- uh, to address your question in North Georgia, if there was potential partners or someone was interested in producing there, then really any feedstock. You know, uh, we're actually getting pretty good at mixed hardwoods, uh, not just pine now. Um, so really any feedstock, you know, that is gonna be dominant in Georgia in the forestry industry we can pretty much tackle now.

74. 0:35:34

    Thank you.

75. 0:35:35

    You're welcome.

76. 0:35:36

    Thank you. And then number, uh, 29, state your name and your question.

77. 0:35:43

    Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, John Corbett, District 174, bottom of the state, a huge timber, uh, l- location in our state. And yeah, we've been hit, hit very hard, like Representative McCollum was saying, with the s- sh- the mills that shut down, the th- you know, Cedar Springs, Rossboro, and Savannah. My first question, would those three facilities be a, you know, you know, with the equipment they've got, something that could be retrofitted to, to do, uh, what you're doing, produce these chips, pellets?

78. 0:36:12

    Yes. We, we can, we can do that.

79. 0:36:14

    Okay.

80. 0:36:14

    We can take the product. And again, um, we look at this as this product giving, um, that industry an opportunity to kind of just resurrect itself and, um, really to, to bring a lot of these mills that have closed, we can bring them back online because our product can fit into and drop right into those mills. So it's an opportunity to, um, in terms of, uh, economic development or just to, um, to bring that back, um-

81. 0:36:42

    To the re- to the region and to the, those cities. And that, and that's, that's great 'cause like I said, we're, we're... it's critical down there now. I mean, it's the, the market is just suppressed, goes over- oversupply and, and, and no demand. Uh, most of the, the, the loggers, by Wednesday, they own a quota and they're shut down. So they can't make their payments on two and a half days a, days a week. And then the growers, they can't afford to, to, to grow the, the timber. So we... they're gonna have to do something else with the land. So I, I think this is great. I think the, uh, I guess the 800 pound gorilla in the room is what's the cost per BTU to make, make this?

82. 0:37:16

    Is it gonna be competitive with other... Uh, I know if you get starting out, price will come down, but can we get it where it's competitive with, uh, you know, traditional type fuels? Uh, in the EU, actually, for our, uh, energy per basically cost, we're in really great shape. We've actually been invited to London, uh, to meet with a bunch of different suppliers who are extremely interested in the product. Uh, so at least in terms of export, it's extremely competitive because if you think about any other energy pellet that comes close to what we're producing, it'd be torrefaction.

83. 0:37:48

    We're cheaper than a torrefied pellet, and it costs a lot of money to change to a torrefied facility, 100 million for a decent sized facility. And even then, you have the crumbling problems from some other things. So we're very uniquely positioned to dominate the export market coming from Georgia. And of course, Georgia's in the best position to provide that because they've got the biomass and the know-how. Can I have one more? Yeah. And, and- One, one, one further, M- Madam Chair. And to your... Yeah, and to your point, Madam Chair, like, what, the southeastern part of Georgia where, where you're speaking of, um, that's actually a really appealing, um, region for us because you're close to the ports.

84. 0:38:23

    So it, it is, um, an attractive area for us in terms of looking where we could, uh, drop that product in and then ac- actually export it. And as Joe was saying, you know, all of the reasons why EU would be interested in our product because they're using torrefied, um, pellets today, we're also a cleaner product, and that's really interesting to the EU as, and also, uh, some areas of Asia. So we've been hearing from, um, uh, companies who are interested out, um, in, in Japan as well.

85. 0:38:53

    And just to clarify Jude's comment on the torrefied, you have to put a lot of energy in to make a torrefied pellet, right? Because you're basically, like, let's oversimplify it, you're baking it at a high temperature. And so for a pure energy application, it's not the best value. Now, for other premium industries like ag and some other places, it's great to do that. But for energy, you're basically putting in a lot of energy just to use it for quick dispatchable energy. And one, one, I guess one further question. And then you have Forestry Day last week, and the speaker, you know, talked about the, the, uh, trade, EU trade w- with the chemicals.

86. 0:39:25

    We treat our, our chips with the ship. I mean, how important is it that we get that, uh, barrier, uh, fixed where we can still use what we're using, what they're spraying their chips with, but they just won't let us use them on ours? Yeah, I mean, I think, uh, I mean, not maybe directly related to our product, um, but in general, yeah, I think that's, that's obviously a very important initiative for forestry. Um, our product, though, is we worked with a lot of, um, EU regulators. Uh, again, in Syngenta, I'm, I'm aware how painful the EU can be on regulation.

87. 0:39:55

    So everything we use to make our product is not regulated in the EU to prevent those regulatory barriers. Thanks. Thank you. You're welcome. Let's see. Our next person, number 10, state your name and your question. Am I on? Yeah. There we go. Representative Brad Thomas. Um, and I, I've got a, a couple questions. Uh, and, uh, Madam Chair, lady, thank you for, for inviting me to come to this. So I've had two careers in my life. My first career was building biomass plants, power plants.

88. 0:40:26

    My second career was AI. So, uh- Oh, great ... I found this to be very interesting. Perfect. Needless to say, I told him to come this morning. So- You might have a third career. And so, um, I wanna, I wanna start off first on the pellet side and talk through that, and then we'll go over to the AI s- piece of it. Um, so, uh, just to... A- and maybe I missed it, I apologize. It was a little, it took me a little bit to get down here from Cherokee County this morning. Um, can you explain the difference between this and a torrefied pellet?

89. 0:40:58

    Yeah. Or did you do that already? No, no, I'm, I'm happy to do it. So basically, what's unique about our pellet is really considering the molecular backbone and the structure of a given biomass feedstock and looking at ways to biochemically improve it, um, and to take advantage of the natural process that already exists in pelletization to, to be able to have the appropriate reactions. Torrefied is where you're taking a low oxygen environment and applying high heat. So baking it, right? You're just putting in a lot of energy. So our process doesn't do anything different than normal pelletization in terms of, like, what you need to run mechanistically.

90. 0:41:33

    Um, we don't need any CapEx changes. We don't need torrefaction, like, set up. You don't need the specialized technicians. So the big difference is we're relying on kind of my background and, uh, you know, the team's background in biochemistry and biomass improvement rather than just applying heat. Yeah, and, uh, y- the whole purpose of applying heat is to remove the water from the chips, right? Yes. So you still dry in the normal process, but torrefaction's, like, really high heat, right? Gotcha. So it's a low oxygen environment and really high heat. So it's, it's not like just drying it out. It's like fundamentally changing the material almost to like a biochar, like, black pellet.

91. 0:42:08

    So, um, you're... Okay. So th- thank you. I d- because I don't know how, if everybody here knows how, what the difference is. Yeah, sure. Because pelletization's been around for a long time, and biomass in and of itself have been around for a long time. But what I found to be really interesting is the, this AI component specifically. On your page, you talk about the optimization engine and your machine learning models. It... That's where I think AI... That's why I got into AI and said, "You know what? We've been burning chips for a long time. I wanna learn about this AI piece of it." Can you talk i- in detail to the point that doesn't get you into any proprietary disclosure, um, about how, how did you come about this idea of creating an AI model, y- the machine learning process?

92. 0:42:52

    'Cause, 'cause it, it, it's really interesting about how you teach a, an AI

93. 0:42:57

    to recognize molecular structures and how to... Can you, you, you're in a position where you can talk about that?

94. 0:43:02

    Yeah. Well, I think I can at least talk high level.

95. 0:43:04

    Yeah.

96. 0:43:04

    Um, so my background actually, uh, in plant biology was, like, heavily in statistics and machine learning as well. It's actually what I TA'd in, in grad school. So I've always kind of had that slant. And something that kind of struck me when we were doing biomass, or they gave up on it the first time, is we've progressed really far in machine learning. We've gotten much better at optimizing and really... You know, we all the time talk about in industrial R&D, right, or in plant biotechnology, for instance, is let's start with winners. Like, now our models have gotten so good, you can really kind of understand outcomes to a certain degree and really shave years off the R&D process and a lot of money.

97. 0:43:42

    And so the idea kind of came from all the machine learning models I built fit for purpose over the years. I thought, man, there's all this different technology. We have a much stronger understanding of biochemistry. We have tons of genomic and plant resources now. So it seems like we had the clean data, we had strong data. We knew the R&D we needed to do to build the models, and, you know, we tailored our experimental program to perfectly kind of train this model. Uh, the, this was the plan from the beginning. And so then the model itself is looking across all the categories that different engineers and stakeholders that Jude and I talked to told us were important.

98. 0:44:16

    Like, you need better en- energy density. You can't have a ton of volume. You know, you need low ash. We can't have gumming and fouling. You need water resistance. We gotta be able to store this like coal. If you want, if you want it to be cheap and you want it to work, it's gotta be more water resistant. You know, most of the time it's outdoor, at the, you know, or covered. It's gotta take humidity. So the model itself focuses on all those categories, the entire history of research, and then very focused R&D experiments targeting all the different areas you need to make a superior biomass product. And the model itself is, it's, it's meant for more than just that.

99. 0:44:48

    We, we really want, to your point, a whole biomass improvement platform, so this is, you know, phase one. Prove it works.

100. 0:44:55

     So, uh, I guess, uh, if you don't mind, Madam Chair, I have one more question. So I guess one of the things that I've learned in, in any type of manufacturing is any time that you've add value to something, it costs more money, right? So you're taking a chip and you're adding value to it by processing it. Um, a- and I'm, I'm just curious. Right now, I, I guess because of maybe economies of scale, it's not competitive with standard wood chips at the moment, but it is in the EU, because we know that the EU, they're afraid to cut a tree down a- across the, the pond over there.

101. 0:45:27

     Right.

102. 0:45:28

     Um, but how, how, how do you see us helping you, um, here to create something that using free market principles, uh, gets you in a position where we can really, I guess, capitalize on this?

103. 0:45:44

     Jude, do you want me to take this or you wanna take this one?

104. 0:45:45

     Sure. Go ahead.

105. 0:45:46

     Yeah. So I would say that, um, the demand we've seen in the EU is quite high. Um, so, um, our cost relative to the demand we're seeing, it doesn't, at least for the EU market, it's not gonna be a problem. Um, for the US market, I think, you know, as, like you said, economies of scales, as we kind of get up and get scaling, we can kind of see what that looks like. Um, but from all the financial modeling and cogs, we seem in really good shape to compete, uh, in the export market. Um, of course, domestically, you've seen the crash of certain fossil fuel prices.

106. 0:46:16

     So, you know, in general, uh, alternative energy's kind of less comp- uh, competitive to certain fossil fuels right now. Um-

107. 0:46:24

     I'll make a suggestion-

108. 0:46:25

     Mm-hmm

109. 0:46:26

     ... when you're ready, but go ahead.

110. 0:46:27

     Yeah. Um, so to, to add to that, um, the one customer that we have already signed an agreement with, his, um, his target is to, uh, pursue the export market for that reason.

111. 0:46:40

     Mm-hmm.

112. 0:46:40

     And he believes the opportunity and the conversations he's been having with those customers there, that he could run his, uh, facility at 100% capacity, and st- still require more capacity. So I think, um, it gives an opportunity for the manufacturers right here in Georgia to participate by using our product in a market that allows them to export out, and it actually, um, does deliver a higher, um, price point for them. So I think there's an opportunity for, um, um, a significantly greater profit margin-

113. 0:47:15

     Mm-hmm

114. 0:47:15

     ... for the manufacturers here, even, even by exporting. There's a demand and a mandate also that we're seeing in Japan, and so this particular manufacturer is also looking at the opportunity in Japan. With his current product, which is a wood pellet, he can't deliver the performance metrics that's required to even be considered for that measure- uh, that, that market. But with our product, it does open the door for him, which we believe will open the door for other, uh, manufacturers here in, in Georgia and throughout the Southeast.

115. 0:47:46

     And I, I would also just say economics is actually part of a, um, a, a different module we have that goes onto it. So we very strongly consider economics from the beginning. It actually factors into the... Like, it- when we rank, uh, it actually factors into the score. So internally, we, we consider economics strongly.

116. 0:48:05

     So I, I guess my, my question, next, last, final question, final, final, final question. Um, sorry if you were warned. Um, the, uh, I, I think the big thing to me, the one that interests me most is when we store wood chips, I'm sure you've seen stacker reclaimer systems and all that, um, the, the chips get really wet because they're stored outdoors. Um, how does your pellet overcome that one issue? Because one of the biggest problems is before you even burn something, you have to evaporate all the water out of it, right?

117. 0:48:39

     So if you're sending wet fuel into a hog boiler or a power boiler, the first thing that happens is, is you lose a bunch of energy 'cause you have to flash off all that water to steam before then you start the combustion process. So can you kind of... Maybe that is a value proposition because, um, you lose a lot of, of energy in those chips just trying to get wet chips dry before you

118. 0:49:02

     Uh, you know-

119. 0:49:03

     Yeah

120. 0:49:03

     ... Power out of-

121. 0:49:04

     I mean, it's, it's even like wet coal, right? They get a sludge and they get gumming and fouling, but sometimes they have to do it, like a plant buried out in Alabama. Um, so I would say without getting too much into the details, uh, we, we create very hydrophobic properties. Uh, but without getting too much into the details, we, we look at that problem a lot.

122. 0:49:22

     Okay, so you're aware.

123. 0:49:23

     Yeah.

124. 0:49:23

     We'll take it that... W- w- we'll go with there.

125. 0:49:25

     Yeah. And, and in the slide deck, too, one of the earlier slides there, we do have a table that, um, outlines the performance metrics against wood pellets and different grades of coal, w- and water resistance is one of those. And so as, you know, to Joe's point, it is something that we've considered because the customers sort of have requested that that be a metric that we, um, w- we maintain the importance and as a criteria for their decision.

126. 0:49:54

     Okay.

127. 0:49:54

     Yeah.

128. 0:49:54

     Uh, th- I have a lot more, but I'm gonna let you- I'm gonna stop.

129. 0:49:58

     There's a chair outside the building here if I'm gonna put you in.

130. 0:50:04

     We do have time, so we have two more questions. So yes, you may. What was... No, you can go ahead and ask your que- what was your-

131. 0:50:12

     No, no.

132. 0:50:13

     Oh, okay. All right.

133. 0:50:14

     I read the questions.

134. 0:50:15

     So, um, it's for me, just an observation. Um, we- we're citizen legislators, and we bring different skill sets, come from different parts of Georgia. And if you stay on this committee, you are a little bit academically inclined because we have to learn so much. Um, but I promise y'all no test on any of this. Including myself today. But, um, there will be people listening to this presentation, and I think from there will just be an intellectual energy to want to know more and more and more.

135. 0:50:48

     So I thank you for your time coming here to do this. And w- and if you see committee members going, we're getting towards, uh, a crossover date for our session, so we have other meetings we've got to go to. So it's musical chairs with us. But this is broadcast and is archived. So, um, I have, um... I talked too long, got more questions. I have, um, uh, number 12. State your name and your question.

136. 0:51:15

     Chas Cannon from, uh, District 172 down in Moultrie. Uh, we're in the small landowner timber business, but we had a contract on pulpwood last year. Pretty good price, $15 a ton. And it, when the mills closed, it dropped in half. So, uh, it's, um, a massive loss of, you know, revenue for us. We depend on it. But I want to clarify something you said. You said that this product outperforms coal, all types of coal. Is that, is that what I, heard that correctly?

137. 0:51:43

     Uh, so, um, our production run outperformed most of the major coals used for energy generation. Obviously, you have some specialty coals like anthracite, uh, and some others that are extremely premium products. Um, but our metrics matched up well with the coal types used for energy generation, yes.

138. 0:52:00

     Gotcha. Second question, um, the export market, do you see enough opportunity there for growth to alleviate some of the loss of demand we've had in the Southeast? Not just Georgia, but South Carolina, Georgia, uh, all, all the places where the breadbasket is. Just to get some of that product out of here and re- replace some of the demand.

139. 0:52:20

     Yeah.

140. 0:52:20

     Yes, so for one export country that we're considering, um, they're estimating between 9 and 10 million tons an- annually in terms of need for the product.

141. 0:52:33

     Wow.

142. 0:52:34

     And, and I mean, you know, energy generation takes a lot of tonnage. So, um, if you, if... You know, traditionally, biomass, they burned at, like, 10% or less because it wasn't really modified to fit in those CapEx or, you know, that wasn't the explicit consideration. So we've really worked with a lot of, uh, these different stakeholders to get that number up. So very quickly, the number of how much tonnage you need goes up very quickly.

143. 0:52:57

     And still able to deliver a decent price to the landowner and also make margin on the export to the product going overseas?

144. 0:53:04

     Yeah. Going... Because overseas, there's just a much stronger market, higher pricing.

145. 0:53:08

     Yeah. They want the premium product, and it allows us to also, you know-

146. 0:53:14

     Judgments

147. 0:53:14

     ... charge, yeah, a higher price, so.

148. 0:53:16

     Thank you, ma- thank you, Madam Chair.

149. 0:53:20

     Thank you. Number 29. This is a repeat.

150. 0:53:22

     Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess my friend, uh, Representative Thomas, uh, when he asked part of the question I was saying about as far as keeping the chips dry or the pellets dry, and that seemed highly water resistant. Here, I know existing pellets, they need a dome at the ports to ship them. Do, would this require a dome? Would that help or it n- done, we, you won't need one?

151. 0:53:44

     At, at least from testing, we're looking pretty good without needing special infrastructure. Obviously, you see more when you start producing at scale. But, you know, we've dropped ours in a cup of water, and it did pretty well. So just to, just to be blunt.

152. 0:54:00

     Like lungs.

153. 0:54:03

     So since, um, we broke the ice on the number of questions, are there any other questions, um, from our legislators? From...

154. 0:54:13

     I made a mistake saying that, so what's your number?

155. 0:54:21

     Um, again, thank you for coming. We, we don't have to vacate this room until about 9:00. Some of us will have other meetings, but there are a lot of people in the audience that also want to meet and engage with y'all. Um, I appreciate you coming up here on short notice like this, but it's a wonderful message to deliver. Uh, also this committee deals with environmental issues. How does, again, how does this compare with, uh, being good for the environment? To, to, to end on that note, 'cause that, that drives a lot of considerations as well.

156. 0:54:54

     Yeah, so, um, when we looked at producing a product and actually creating this company, that was one of the, the criterias that we, that we looked at, is how do we produce a product that is actually going to be better for the environment? I mean, we're hearing about the challenge of, uh, meeting the demand of electricity, and again, going back to, to we- what we talked, talked about earlier, these, um, AI data centers and so forth, and companies and organizations, um, building and investing millions or billions of dollars into, um, building these types of data centers to address that energy demand.

157. 0:55:31

     But these data centers are often using fossil fuel to do that. And so we wanted to be- bring a product not only that would, um, allow us to address that demand immediately, like within months versus years, but ensure that the product we bring to, to, to the market is actually going to be better than, um, what is being used today or being considered to, to be used today just for the, you know, for the, uh, to address the need of that demand. So that was something that Joe and I looked at, and it was important to us that the product, uh, brought the performance, but also the clean energy, um, so we could offer the best of both worlds.

158. 0:56:10

     And then just to, to, to add to that, I'd say there's a couple key points. One is, I think incentivizing thinning that mimics burning, uh, is gonna create more habitat space. You're not gonna get green deserts where you get overgrown canopies. You're gonna get stronger ecosystem functioning when you incentivize that land management, and there's somewhere for those, those streams to go. Also, any stranded biomass streams, we like all biomass from forestry, we'll take it. Um, you're not just gonna necessarily have that sitting around or getting wasted methane emissions. And then of course, compared to fossil fuels, you're gonna get a big reduction in CO2 emissions.

159. 0:56:43

     So I, I'd say kind of on those fronts, it- it's gonna be a much better value proposition.

160. 0:56:50

     I, I could almost say we're getting ready to adjourn, but one more question. Number 12, state your name, and this is repeat.

161. 0:56:56

     Just a point of clarification for the committee or just a statement that, you know, when we cut timber, r- we got about 200, 200 stems to the acre when we're cutting timber to clear cut. We just replant it back at 605 stems to the acre. So you're basically, you know, cutting out one, we're replacing with four more trees. So I'm just speaking in terms of to the renewableness of, of, uh, timber products.

162. 0:57:24

     Thank you. Thank you so much for your presentation. If you'll stay afterwards, we do have a lot of folks who want to ask you some questions. And to the committee, please pay attention to posts and to emails, 'cause, um, you know, things change and move fast during this part of the session. And thank y'all for coming. And again, I'm not gonna test anybody 'cause I wouldn't know how to ask the question to do the test.

163. 0:57:46

     Uh, Madam Chair and members of the committee, thank you so much for having us, and, uh, we would be happy to come back if, if there's interest. And, um, thank you again.

164. 0:57:56

     Thank you. And just stay right...