Gevo Provides Production Update on its Bio-isobutanol Facility in Luverne

ENGLEWOOD, Colorado -- During May, Gevo, Inc., one of the leading renewable chemicals and next generation biofuels company, announced the start-up of its Luverne, Minn., bio-isobutanol production facility. Over the past 17 weeks, Gevo has successfully produced and shipped commercial-quality product in railcars for customers.

"To date, we have proven we can produce bio-isobutanol, and do it on a commercial scale - years ahead of the competition," said CEO Patrick Gruber, Ph.D. "This start-up is very typical of other start-ups we have done: you have to learn a lot in a very short period of time, both what works well and what needs to be adjusted. Early indications are that, while we are making significant progress towards economic production levels, we will not achieve our desired year-end run rate - instead we would expect to achieve that during 2013.

"While we have made significant progress towards economic production levels, we have decided to optimize certain specific parts of our technology to further enhance bio-isobutanol production rates. Implementing these adjustments while trying to produce product in a plant the size of Luverne makes no sense from a business or technical point of view, particularly when we have better options available. In order to maximize cash flow, we believe it makes more sense to temporarily shift to ethanol production. This optionality is a result of Gevos patented retrofit design that allows for switching between isobutanol and ethanol. Its very important to us to introduce this technology to the marketplace in the most considered and responsible way, and do whats right for our customers, our shareholders, and the long-term needs of the business."

Gevos market development is proceeding well. Bio-isobutanol applications for the specialty chemicals and chemical intermediates sectors include groundbreaking work in paraxylene with Toray and Coca-Cola. Gevo also continues to develop opportunities in the jet, marine and small engine markets, with plans to ultimately scale into retail gasoline as volumes come online. Gevo has agreements in place with partners such as Sasol, Total, VP Racing Fuels, Mansfield Oil, and Land O Lakes Purina. Business development activities with these and other key partners remain ongoing while demand remains high for initial plant capacity.

"In five short years, we have gone from start-up to commercial-scale production at the worlds first commercial bio-isobutanol production facility," Gruber added. "Production start-ups are never easy, but we are years ahead of our competition and well on our way to realizing economic production levels during 2013."

About Gevo

Gevos patent-protected, capital-light business model converts existing ethanol plants into biorefineries to make isobutanol. This versatile chemical can be directly integrated into existing chemical and fuel products to deliver environmental and economic benefits. Gevo is now producing isobutanol at its first commercial facility in Luverne, Minn., and has a marquee list of partners including Coca-Cola, Sasol, and LANXESS, among others. Gevo is committed to a sustainable biobased economy that meets societys needs for plentiful food and clean air and water.