ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul. 10, 2012-- Gevo, Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO), a leading renewable chemicals and next-generation biofuels company, reported today on the progress being made at its Luverne, Minn. facility.

“We are pleased with the progress to date in our initial startup campaign,” said CEO Patrick Gruber, Ph.D. “We’ve shown that we can successfully ferment isobutanol in large (250,000 gallon) commercial fermenters, isolate the product and get it into tanks and railcars. The learnings gained in achieving this milestone are enormous and further derisk our technology. I have to give credit to our team at Luverne, including our employees, the ICM team and all of our contractors for their hard work in overcoming so many obstacles to get this far in such a short period of time.”

“The initial isobutanol we produced is what we'd expect from startup. We will use some of the isobutanol produced at Luverne to further shake down our finishing systems. We will also prepare some isobutanol for shipment to customers such as Sasol or others.”

“As previously described, we plan to be in the start-up/learning mode of operation most of 2012. We still have a lot of work to do: improve plant reliability, improve yields, improve throughput and improve quality. With any new technology there is a lot to learn. We have made great progress so far, and I expect our team to continue to deliver – knocking down issues as they arise.”

About Gevo

Gevo is converting existing ethanol plants into biorefineries to make renewable building block products for the chemical and fuel industries. The Company plans to convert renewable raw materials into isobutanol and renewable hydrocarbons that can be directly integrated on a “drop in” basis into existing chemical and fuel products to deliver environmental and economic benefits. Gevo is committed to a sustainable biobased economy that meets society’s needs for plentiful food and clean air and water. For more information, visit www.gevo.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements that are not purely statements of historical fact, and can sometimes be identified by our use of terms such as “intend,” “expect,” “plan,” “estimate,” “future,” “strive” and similar words. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of the management of Gevo and are subject to significant risks and uncertainty. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. All such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the company undertakes no obligation to update or revise these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements involve many risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from what may be expressed or implied in these forward-looking statements. For a further discussion of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, as well as risks relating to the business of Gevo in general, see the risk disclosures in the Annual Report on Form 10-K of Gevo for the year ended December 31, 2011, as amended, and in subsequent reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings made with the SEC by Gevo.

Source: Gevo, Inc.

Gevo, Inc.
Media:
Greta Thomsen, 303-715-8928
Gevo Director of Marcom and PR
gthomsen@gevo.com
or
Investors:
Stern IR for Gevo
Sarah McCabe, 267-909-9237
sarah@sternir.com