CleanTech Biofuels, Inc. - Quarter Report: 2009 June (Form 10-Q)
Table of Contents
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-Q
þ | QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
FOR THE QUARTERLY PERIOD ENDED JUNE 30, 2009
o | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
FOR THE TRANSITION PERIOD FROM TO
Commission file number 333-145939
CLEANTECH BIOFUELS, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Delaware (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) |
33-0754902 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
|
7386 Pershing Ave., University City, Missouri (Address of principal executive offices) |
63130 (Zip Code) |
(Registrants telephone number): (314) 802-8670
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) filed all reports required to be filed by Section
13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such
shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to
such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes þ No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its
corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted
pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months
(or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such
files). Yes o No o
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a
non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of large accelerated
filer, accelerated filer and smaller reporting company in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filer o | Accelerated filer o | Non-accelerated filer o | Smaller reporting company þ | |||
(Do not check if a smaller reporting company) |
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the
Exchange Act). Yes o No þ
As of August 5, 2009, 61,704,753 shares of the Companys common stock were outstanding.
CLEANTECH BIOFUELS, INC.
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Exhibit 32.1 | ||||||||
Exhibit 32.2 |
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PART I. FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Item 1. | Financial Statements (Unaudited) |
CLEANTECH BIOFUELS, INC.
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
BALANCE SHEETS
June 30, | December 31, | |||||||
2009 | 2008 | |||||||
(unaudited) | ||||||||
ASSETS |
||||||||
Current assets: |
||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents |
$ | 102,540 | $ | 96,617 | ||||
Prepaids and other current assets |
23,372 | 68,345 | ||||||
125,912 | 164,962 | |||||||
Property and equipment, net |
32,714 | 18,826 | ||||||
Non-current assets: |
||||||||
Technology licenses, net |
2,021,782 | 2,021,782 | ||||||
Patents |
600,000 | 600,000 | ||||||
Total Assets |
$ | 2,780,408 | $ | 2,805,570 | ||||
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY (DEFICIT) |
||||||||
Current liabilities: |
||||||||
Accounts payable |
$ | 244,896 | $ | 238,925 | ||||
Accrued interest |
63,426 | 26,660 | ||||||
Accrued professional fees and other |
109,913 | 66,250 | ||||||
Notes Payable, net |
1,089,208 | 456,712 | ||||||
Series A Convertible Debentures |
140,000 | | ||||||
Deferred revenue |
50,000 | | ||||||
Capital lease |
4,758 | 4,649 | ||||||
Total current liabilities |
1,702,201 | 793,196 | ||||||
Capital Lease |
3,707 | 6,117 | ||||||
Series A Convertible Debentures |
| 140,000 | ||||||
STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY (DEFICIT) |
||||||||
Preferred stock, $0.001 par value; 10,000,000 authorized shares; no shares
issued or outstanding |
| | ||||||
Common stock, $0.001 par value; 240,000,000 authorized shares;
61,704,753 and 61,270,153 shares issued and outstanding at
June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively |
61,705 | 61,270 | ||||||
Additional paid-in capital |
5,104,700 | 4,675,098 | ||||||
Notes receivable restricted common shares issued to Directors and Employees |
(167,074 | ) | (162,567 | ) | ||||
Deficit accumulated during the development stage |
(3,924,831 | ) | (2,707,544 | ) | ||||
Total Stockholders Equity |
1,074,500 | 1,866,257 | ||||||
Total Liabilities and Stockholders Equity |
$ | 2,780,408 | $ | 2,805,570 | ||||
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
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CLEANTECH BIOFUELS, INC.
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (unaudited)
July 14, 2004 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Three months ended | Six months ended | (inception) to | ||||||||||||||||||
June 30, | June 30, | June 30, | ||||||||||||||||||
2009 | 2008 | 2009 | 2008 | 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
General and administrative |
$ | 345,004 | $ | 155,107 | $ | 588,827 | $ | 301,330 | $ | 1,656,577 | ||||||||||
Professional fees |
83,161 | 78,946 | 192,574 | 190,892 | 952,015 | |||||||||||||||
Research and development |
| 53,812 | 101 | 236,916 | 524,802 | |||||||||||||||
Operating Loss |
428,165 | 287,865 | 781,502 | 729,138 | 3,133,394 | |||||||||||||||
Other expense (income): |
||||||||||||||||||||
Interest expense |
246,165 | 4,136 | 472,292 | 23,887 | 718,750 | |||||||||||||||
Amortization of technology license |
| 3,750 | | 7,500 | 35,000 | |||||||||||||||
Deposit forfeiture |
| | | | (25,000 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Other income |
(27,333 | ) | | (32,000 | ) | | (32,000 | ) | ||||||||||||
Interest income |
(2,266 | ) | (252 | ) | (4,507 | ) | (5,979 | ) | (39,661 | ) | ||||||||||
216,566 | 7,634 | 435,785 | 25,408 | 657,089 | ||||||||||||||||
Net loss applicable to common stockholders |
$ | 644,731 | $ | 295,499 | $ | 1,217,287 | $ | 754,546 | $ | 3,790,483 | ||||||||||
Basic and diluted net loss per common share |
$ | 0.01 | $ | 0.01 | $ | 0.02 | $ | 0.01 | $ | 0.08 | ||||||||||
Weighted average common shares outstanding |
61,600,586 | 57,489,950 | 61,476,070 | 53,786,237 | 45,884,839 | |||||||||||||||
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
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CLEANTECH BIOFUELS, INC.
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY (DEFICIT) (unaudited)
Notes Rec - | ||||||||||||||||||||
restricted | ||||||||||||||||||||
common | July 14, 2004 | |||||||||||||||||||
Additional | shares issued | (inception) to | ||||||||||||||||||
Common Stock | Paid-in | to Directors | June 30, | |||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Capital | and Employees | 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
Balances at December 31, 2008 |
61,270,153 | $ | 61,270 | $ | 4,675,098 | $ | (162,567 | ) | $ | (2,707,544 | ) | |||||||||
Conversion of convertible note in February 2009 at $.25 per share |
122,100 | 122 | 11,533 | |||||||||||||||||
Conversion of convertible note in May 2009 at $.08 per share |
312,500 | 313 | 24,687 | |||||||||||||||||
Discounts on Notes Payable |
164,071 | |||||||||||||||||||
Interest on Notes Receivable |
(4,507 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||
Stock-based compensation |
229,311 | |||||||||||||||||||
Net loss |
(1,217,287 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||
Balances at June 30, 2009 |
61,704,753 | $ | 61,705 | $ | 5,104,700 | $ | (167,074 | ) | $ | (3,924,831 | ) | |||||||||
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
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CLEANTECH BIOFUELS, INC.
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited)
July 14, 2004 | ||||||||||||
Six months ended | (inception) to | |||||||||||
June 30, | June 30, | |||||||||||
2009 | 2008 | 2009 | ||||||||||
Operating Activities |
||||||||||||
Net loss applicable to common stockholders |
$ | (1,217,287 | ) | $ | (754,546 | ) | $ | (3,790,483 | ) | |||
Adjustments to reconcile net loss applicable to common
stockholders to net cash used by operating activities: |
||||||||||||
Items that did not use (provide) cash: |
||||||||||||
Common stock issued for organizational costs |
| | 100 | |||||||||
Depreciation |
6,814 | 12,796 | 35,642 | |||||||||
Amortization |
| 7,500 | 35,000 | |||||||||
Interest income |
(4,507 | ) | | (12,274 | ) | |||||||
Amortization of discounts (interest expense) and other financing charges |
432,311 | | 571,262 | |||||||||
Share-based compensation expense |
229,311 | 134,360 | 487,432 | |||||||||
Write-off of technology license |
| | 97,500 | |||||||||
Fair value of RAM warrant settlement |
| | 125,027 | |||||||||
Changes in operating assets and liabilities that provided
(used) cash, net: |
||||||||||||
Prepaids and other current assets |
44,973 | 22,461 | (23,372 | ) | ||||||||
Technology license |
| | (132,500 | ) | ||||||||
Accounts payable |
5,971 | 35,329 | 244,896 | |||||||||
Other assets and other liabilities |
87,514 | 17,719 | 163,045 | |||||||||
Accrued liabilities |
43,663 | | 109,913 | |||||||||
Net cash used by operating activities |
(371,237 | ) | (524,381 | ) | (2,088,812 | ) | ||||||
Cash Flows Provided (Used) by Investing Activities |
||||||||||||
Acquisition of patent, net |
| | (150,000 | ) | ||||||||
Merger of Biomass North America Licensing, Inc., net |
| | (20,000 | ) | ||||||||
Acquisition of HFTA technology, net |
| | | |||||||||
Expenditures for equipment |
(20,702 | ) | (26,679 | ) | (54,237 | ) | ||||||
Net cash used by investing activities |
(20,702 | ) | (26,679 | ) | (224,237 | ) | ||||||
Cash Flows Provided (Used) by Financing Activities |
||||||||||||
Advances related parties |
| | | |||||||||
Payments on capital lease, including interest |
(2,524 | ) | (1,104 | ) | (6,311 | ) | ||||||
Series A Convertible Debentures, including interest |
| 474,900 | 1,424,900 | |||||||||
Issuance of Convertible Notes Payable |
445,000 | | 1,052,000 | |||||||||
Payments on Note Payable |
(44,614 | ) | | (80,000 | ) | |||||||
Sale of common stock |
| | 25,000 | |||||||||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
397,862 | 473,796 | 2,415,589 | |||||||||
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents |
5,923 | (77,264 | ) | 102,540 | ||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period |
96,617 | 120,356 | | |||||||||
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period |
$ | 102,540 | $ | 43,092 | $ | 102,540 | ||||||
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CLEANTECH BIOFUELS, INC.
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
(formerly Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.)
(A Development Stage Company)
STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS contd (unaudited)
July 14, 2004 | ||||||||||||
Six months ended | (inception) to | |||||||||||
June 30, | June 30, | |||||||||||
2009 | 2008 | 2009 | ||||||||||
Supplemental disclosure of cash flow information: |
||||||||||||
Cash paid for interest |
$ | 2,691 | $ | 694 | $ | 9,901 | ||||||
Supplemental disclosure of noncash investing and
financing activities: |
||||||||||||
Promissory notes receivable related to Series A Convertible Debentures |
$ | | $ | 450,000 | ||||||||
Capital lease related to the purchase of equipment |
$ | 14,119 | $ | 14,119 | ||||||||
Common stock issued for organizational costs |
$ | | $ | 100 | ||||||||
Common stock issued for promissory notes |
$ | | $ | 133,596 | ||||||||
Common stock issued for Convertible notes converted |
$ | 36,655 | $ | | $ | 36,655 | ||||||
Common stock issued for Debentures converted |
$ | 1,333,337 | $ | 1,333,337 | ||||||||
Common stock and note payable issued for acquistion of Biomass |
$ | | $ | 1,501,250 | ||||||||
Common stock issued for HFTA |
$ | | $ | 500,532 | ||||||||
See accompanying notes to financial statements.
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Note 1 Organization and Business
Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc. (the Company), was incorporated in Delaware on December
20, 1996. Effective August 2, 2007, the Company changed its name to CleanTech Biofuels, Inc.
On March 27, 2007, the Company acquired SRS Energy, Inc., a Delaware corporation (SRS Energy),
pursuant to an Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization. In accordance with the merger
agreement, SRS Acquisition Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of the
Company, merged with and into SRS Energy. The merger was consummated on May 31, 2007 and resulted
in SRS Energy becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company. As a result of the merger, the
stockholders of SRS Energy surrendered all of their issued and outstanding common stock and
received shares of the Companys common stock, $.001 par value per share (Common Stock). The
former parent of SRS Energy, Supercritical Recovery Systems, Inc., immediately prior to the merger,
distributed 78.8% of its 96% ownership in SRS Energy to its shareholders on a pro rata basis.
For accounting purposes, because the Company had been a public shell company prior to the merger,
the merger was treated as an acquisition of the Company and a recapitalization of SRS Energy. As a
result, the historical information of the Company prior to the merger disclosed in this report is
that of SRS Energy. In addition, historical share amounts have been restated to reflect the effect
of the merger.
The Company is a development stage company that has been engaged in technology development and
pre-operational activities since its formation, however the Company has begun evaluating potential
commercial projects. These projects plan to focus on cleaning and separating municipal solid waste
(also referred to as MSW) into its component parts in order to obtain a homogenous feedstock of
cellulosic biomass and plastics for energy production. The Company has limited exclusive licenses
to technology designed to convert cellulosic feedstocks, including MSW, into combustible sources of
energy.
The Company has no operating history as a producer of biomass or energy sources and has not
constructed any commercial plants to date. It has no operating revenues to date and expects that
its current capital and other existing resources will be sufficient only to provide a limited
amount of working capital. The Company will require substantial additional capital to implement its
business plan and it may be unable to obtain the capital required to do so. If we are not able to
timely and successfully raise additional capital and/or achieve profitability or positive cash
flow, we will be required to delay our development and may not be able to implement our business
plan.
Note 2 Interim Financial Statements
The accompanying unaudited, financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting
principles generally accepted in the United States for interim financial information and with the
instructions to Form 10-Q and Articles 8 and 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include
all of the information and notes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete
financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments, consisting of normal recurring
items considered necessary for a fair presentation, have been included. Operating results for the
three and six months ended June 30, 2009 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be
expected for the year ended December 31, 2009. For further information, refer to the Companys
audited financial statements and notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2008, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 30, 2009.
Note 3 Mergers/Acquisitions
On September 15, 2008, the Company consummated the acquisition of Biomass North America Licensing,
Inc. (Biomass) pursuant to a merger between Biomass and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company
(with Biomass as the surviving subsidiary of the Company) in accordance with an Agreement and Plan
of Merger by and between the Company and Biomass. By virtue of the merger, the Company acquired a
license agreement pursuant to which the Company holds a license in the United States and Canada to
use patent pending technology owned by Biomass North America, LLC, the former parent of Biomass
(the Licensor), to clean and separate municipal solid waste (the Biomass Recovery Process).
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Upon consummation of the merger, the Company paid $20,000 in cash and issued a promissory note in
the original principal amount of $80,000 bearing interest at an annual rate of 6% (the Note) to a
shareholder of the Licensor. This note has been paid in full. Additionally, the Company issued to
the four shareholders of the Licensor a total of 1,895,000 shares of Common Stock and deposited an
additional 4,000,000 shares of Common Stock into an escrow account (collectively, the Shares).
The Shares were issued as part of the merger consideration received by the shareholders of the
Licensor. The escrowed shares will be released to the Licensors shareholders if and when the
Company commences a commercial development that utilizes the Biomass Recovery Process. The Company
recorded a long-term asset of approximately $1.5 million which it will begin to amortize upon
utilizing the license in our operations. If the escrowed shares are released based on the specified
future events, an increase to the value of the asset will be recorded at that time. Based on the
market value of Common Stock as of June 30, 2009, it would result in an approximate increase of
approximately $600,000 to the asset. Any future increase in the value of the asset would depend on
the market value of our Common Stock at the time of utilization.
Note 4 Patent
On October 22, 2008, the Company completed the purchase of Patent No. 6,306,248 (the Patent)
pursuant to a Patent Purchase Agreement (Agreement) with World Waste Technologies, Inc. (WWT).
The Patent is the basis for a pressurized steam classification technology from which our Biomass
Recovery Process was developed. As part of the acquisition of the Patent, we also became the
licensor of such technology to Bio-Products International, Inc. Upon signing the Agreement, the
Company paid WWT $150,000, issued a note in the amount of $450,000 and issued warrants to purchase
900,000 shares of Common Stock at a price of $0.45 per share. The note bears interest at 6.0% per
annum and is secured by a security interest in the Patent. The note matured July 22, 2009 and has
been amended see update in Subsequent Events footnote. The warrants are exercisable at any time
for five years from the date of issuance. The value of these warrants has been recorded as a
contra-balance amount with the note and is being amortized through interest expense over the life
of the note. In addition, the Company issued a contingent warrant to purchase 900,000 shares of
Common Stock at a price of $0.45 per share. The contingent warrant becomes exercisable if the
Company defaults on its obligations under the note and remains exercisable for five years from the
date of such default. This note has been recorded as short-term debt (notes payable) in the
financial statements, net of discounts for the warrant features. For the three and six months ended
June 30, 2009, amortization of this discount of approximately $60,000 and $120,000, respectively,
has been recorded in interest expense. At June 30, 2009, the notes payable balance, net of the
discount, related to this note is approximately $436,000.
Note 5 Technology Licenses
Biomass North America Licensing, Inc.
On September 15, 2008, in connection with the acquisition of Biomass described in Note 3
Mergers/Acquisitions, we acquired a license in the United States and Canada to use patent pending
technology owned by Biomass North America, LLC, the former parent of Biomass (the Licensor), to
clean and separate MSW, which we refer to as the Biomass Recovery Process. As a result of the
merger, a long-term asset of approximately $1.5 million was recorded for the value of this license.
Amortization of this asset will begin upon commencement of the use of the Biomass Recovery Process.
The Company also deposited an additional 4,000,000 shares of the Companys Common Stock into an
escrow account. For accounting purposes, the shares remaining in escrow are not considered issued
and outstanding as a project has not started using the Biomass Recovery Process. The shares are not
deemed issued or vested until that time as described above.
The license requires that the Company pay a royalty in the amount of $1.00 per ton of bone-dry
biomass produced using the Biomass Recovery Process. The license agreement is for a term of 21
years or the life of any patent issued for the Biomass Recovery Process. The Company has an
exclusive license in the United States and Canada to use the Biomass Recovery Process, except that
a principal owner of the Licensor has the right of first offer to manage and operate with respect
to any development commenced using the licensed technology within 100 miles of the City of Chicago,
Illinois. The license agreement further provides that Biomass and Licensor will work in good faith
to complete a commercial development in the City of Chicago using the Biomass Recovery Process.
HFTA, Inc.
On March 20, 2008, the Company entered into a license agreement with HFTA, Inc. (HFTA) granting
the Company the exclusive worldwide right to use the HFTA technology for the production of ethanol
from MSW. The
terms in the agreement required us to pay an initial license fee of $25,000 to HFTA on execution of
the agreement and a second license fee of $150,000 on September 1, 2009 if we are using the
technology at that time.
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Additionally, we deposited 2,887,687 shares of our Common Stock into an escrow account on May 12,
2008. The shares held in escrow will be released to HFTA as follows: one-third upon the earlier of
six months from the date of the license agreement or the completion of the proof of concept phase
if at that time we elect to continue to use the HFTA technology in the demonstration phase and
two-thirds upon completion of the demonstration phase if at that time we elect to incorporate the
HFTA technology into the small commercial plant. The first third of the shares (962,562 shares)
were released from escrow on September 20, 2008. As a result, the Company recorded an asset for the
value of this share payment of approximately $500,000 and will begin amortizing this asset upon use
of the technology. For accounting purposes, the shares remaining in escrow are not considered
issued and outstanding as the Company has the option to use or not use the technology and the
shares are not deemed issued or vested until that time as described above. As of June 30, 2009, the
approximate license to be recorded upon issuing the remaining shares, based on the market value of
our Common Stock at June 30, 2009, would be approximately $290,000. Any future increase in the
value of the asset would depend on the market value of our Common Stock at the time of
utilitzation.
In addition, we are required to pay a process royalty of 4% of the sales price of ethanol less
taxes and applicable fees if the sales price is in excess of $1.50 per gallon, 3% of the sales
price if it is between $1.50 and $1.30 per gallon, and 2% of the sales price if it is less than
$1.30 per gallon. We are also required to pay certain minimum royalties, less the amount of any
process royalties paid, commencing in the calendar year ending December 31, 2010 and in subsequent
years as follows: (i) 2010 -$25,000; (ii) 2011 $25,000; (iii) 2012 $60,000; (iv) increasing by
$20,000 per year for each year thereafter until it reaches $120,000 per year; and (v) $120,000 per
year thereafter.
Bio-Products International, Inc.
On August 17, 2005, the Company entered into a license agreement with Bio-Products International,
Inc. (Bio-Products) giving the Company limited exclusive rights to use Bio-Products technology
(Patent No. 6,306,248) to process MSW and convert the cellulosic component of that waste to a
homogenous feedstock to produce ethanol in the United States, subject to the right of Bio-Products
to request five sites to construct MSW to ethanol plants in the United States. The Companys
license with Bio-Products was for a period of twenty years. Under the license, Bio-Products was to
be paid a process royalty of $1.50 for every ton of waste received and processed at each facility
to be constructed and operated under the agreement. The Company also was required to pay a
by-product royalty of 2.5 percent of the gross sales price in excess of $10 per ton obtained from
the sale of recyclable by-products, excluding the cellulosic biomass. Bio-Products would also have
been paid a monthly fee for technical services to be provided by Bio-Products for each facility to
be constructed and operated which initially would have been $10,000 per month and increase to
$20,000 per month when vessels for processing waste are ordered for the facility. The $20,000 per
month fee would have continued until construction of a facility was completed. The Companys
litigation involving Bio-Products was settled in March 2009 and as a result, this sublicense has
been mutually terminated by all parties.
As disclosed in a previous footnote, the Company purchased Patent No. 6,306,248 (the Patent)
pursuant to an Agreement with WWT. The Patent is the basis for the pressurized steam classification
technology that cleans and separates MSW into its component parts, which we refer to as the PSC
technology. The Company is now a licensor to Bio-Products for this Patent. Bio-Products is the
exclusive licensee of the PSC technology (but not the Biomass Recovery Process) and has the right
to sublicense the PSC technology to any party. Under the Master License Agreement, we are entitled
to be paid 5% of any revenue derived by Bio-Products from the use of the technology and 40% of any
sublicensing fees paid to Bio-Products for the use of the technology. The Master License Agreement
is for a term of 20 years that commenced on August 18, 2003.
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Brelsford Engineering, Inc.
On April 1, 2005, the Company entered into a license agreement with Brelsford Engineering, Inc.
(Brelsford) giving the Company the exclusive right to use Brelsfords technology (Patent No.
5,411,594) to convert cellulosic biomass into fuel grade ethanol in the United States. This
agreement was amended in November 2005 to extend the initial evaluation period for the
technology. Under the terms of the license with Brelsford, the Company paid an initial fee of
$50,000 and monthly fees for the trial option premium totaling $67,500 (recorded as a long-term
asset in the aggregate on the balance sheet). The Company also was required to pay a minimum annual
fee of $15,000 and
a project fee of $30,000 for each project that commences for the manufacture of a plant. On August
30, 2007, the Company paid the first project fee in the amount of $30,000 to Brelsford with respect
to the commencement of the design of our pilot plant and Brelsford simultaneously acknowledged that
the Company had met all requirements to maintain the exclusivity of its license. Brelsford had the
right to terminate the license agreement on sixty days notice if the Company failed to make any
payment due under our license agreement. Commencing with the first project payment, the Company
began amortizing costs previously capitalized over the remaining term of the license. During the
fourth quarter of 2008, the Company received a termination notice from Brelsford for non-payment of
certain fees. The Company has decided not to use this technology going forward in our operations
and thus has written off the remaining asset as of December 31, 2008. The impairment loss of
$97,500 was included in research and development expense on the statement of operations for the
year ended December 31, 2008.
All intangible assets are reviewed for impairment whenever events or other changes in circumstances
indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. An impairment charge is recognized if the
carrying amount of an intangible asset exceeds its implied fair value.
Note 6 Debt
June 30, | December 31, | |||||||
2009 | 2008 | |||||||
Convertible Notes Payable, net of discounts of $228,628 and $514,797
at June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively, which are
made up of various individual notes with an aggregate face value
of
$612,000 and $607,000 at June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008,
respectively, due in one year from date of note, interest at 6.0% |
$ | 383,372 | $ | 92,203 | ||||
Convertible Notes Payable, net of discounts of $115,064 and $-0- at June 30,
2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively, which are made up of
various individual notes with an aggregate face value of $385,000
and $-0- at June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively,
due
in one year from date of note, interest at 6.0% |
269,936 | | ||||||
WWT Note Payable, net of discount of $14,100 and $130,105 at
June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively, with a face
value of $450,000, due July 22, 2009, interest at 6.0% |
435,900 | 319,895 | ||||||
Note Payable, repaid May 1, 2009, interest at 6.0% |
| 44,614 | ||||||
Series A Convertible Debentures, due April 16, 2010, interest at 6.0% |
140,000 | 140,000 | ||||||
Total debt |
1,229,208 | 596,712 | ||||||
Current maturities |
(1,229,208 | ) | (456,712 | ) | ||||
Long-term portion, less current maturities |
$ | | $ | 140,000 | ||||
Convertible Notes Payable
During September 2008, the Company commenced an offering of units comprised of a convertible
promissory note and a warrant. The Company raised a total of $642,000 of investment proceeds and
this offering is now closed. One note was converted during the first quarter of 2009 leaving
$612,000 face value of notes outstanding. Each convertible promissory note carries a one-year term
and a 6% interest rate. In addition, each note can be converted, at the note holders option, at
any time during the one-year term into shares of Common Stock at $0.25 per share, or prior to the
closing of any Qualifying Equity Financing (minimum capital received of $5 million). Each note was
issued with a warrant to purchase additional shares of Common Stock equal to the principal amount
of the promissory note at a price of $0.45 per share. These promissory notes have been recorded as
short-term debt (notes payable) in the financial statements, net of discounts for the conversion
and warrant features. The discounts are being amortized on a straight-line basis over the term of
each note. For the three and six months ended June 30,
2009, amortization of approximately $150,000 and $300,000, respectively, for these discounts has
been recorded in interest expense.
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During April 2009, the Company commenced another offering of units comprised of a convertible
promissory note and a warrant. As of June 30, 2009, the Company raised a total of $410,000 of
investment proceeds. One note was converted during the second quarter of 2009 leaving $385,000 face
value of notes outstanding. Each convertible promissory note carries a one-year term and a 6%
interest rate. In addition, each note can be converted, at the note holders option, at any time
during the one-year term into shares of Common Stock at $0.08 per share, or prior to the closing of
any Qualifying Equity Financing (minimum capital received of $5 million). Each note was issued with
a warrant to purchase additional shares of Common Stock to provide for 100% coverage of the
promissory note at a price of $0.30 per share. These promissory notes have been recorded as
short-term debt (notes payable) in the financial statements, net of discounts for the conversion
and warrant features. The discounts are being amortized on a straight-line basis over the term of
each note. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2009, amortization of approximately $15,000
for these discounts has been recorded in interest expense. This offering is continuing see the
Subsequent Events footnote for further information.
WWT Note Payable
As disclosed previously, the Company issued to WWT a note in the amount of $450,000 and warrants to
purchase 900,000 shares of Common Stock at a price of $0.45 per share related to the purchase of
the Patent. The note bears interest at 6.0% per annum and is secured by a security interest in the
Patent. The note matured on July 22, 2009 and has been amended see update in Subsequent Events
footnote. The warrants are exercisable at any time for five years from the date of issuance. The
value of these warrants has been recorded as a contra-balance amount discount with the note and is
being amortized through interest expense over the life of the note. For the three and six months
ended June 30, 2009, amortization of approximately $60,000 and $120,000, respectively, for this
discount has been recorded in interest expense.
Series A Convertible Debentures
In April 2007, the Company sold $1,400,000 of Series A Convertible Debentures (Debentures), due
April 16, 2010, that convert into shares of Common Stock at $.15 per share. The Company filed a
registration statement with regard to the sale of these shares of Common Stock, which was declared
effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 2, 2008. The debentures accrue
interest at 6% per annum. The interest is payable in cash or shares of Common Stock at the
Companys option. The Debenture Holders can convert their amount into shares at any time until the
due date. The maximum number of shares that would be issued at the due date is 11,013,333.
The Company received cash of $950,000 and Promissory Notes (Notes) with an aggregate principal
amount of $450,000 that accrue interest at 6.0%. Effective with the listing of our Common Stock on
the OTCBB on March 13, 2008 (previously traded on Pink Sheets) we received full payment on all
principal and accrued interest on the Notes totaling approximately $475,000 on March 14, 2008.
During March 2008, various debenture holders converted an aggregate amount of $630,000 of our
Debentures, plus interest earned, into 4,433,067 shares of Common Stock. During April 2008, various
debenture holders converted an aggregate amount of $630,000 of our Debentures, plus interest
earned, into 4,455,844 shares of Common Stock. These transactions converted in the aggregate
$1,260,000 of our Debentures, leaving $140,000 remaining to be converted. As of June 30, 2009,
$140,000 of our Debentures remained outstanding and eligible for conversion.
Note 7 Stockholders Deficit
In March 2008, the Company issued 4,433,067 shares of Common Stock ($0.15 per share) upon the
conversion of an aggregate amount of $630,000 of the Companys Debentures and accrued interest of
approximately $35,000.
In April 2008, the Company issued 4,455,844 shares of Common Stock ($0.15 per share) upon the
conversion of an aggregate amount of $630,000 of the Companys Debentures and accrued interest of
approximately $38,000.
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In September 2008, the Company released 962,562 shares of Common Stock ($0.52 per share) to HFTA in
accordance with the previously disclosed licensing agreement with HFTA representing one-third of
the total shares escrowed as part of the compensation for the licensing agreement.
In September 2008, the Company issued 1,895,000 shares of Common Stock ($0.75 per share) to Biomass
in accordance with the previously disclosed merger agreement.
In February 2009, the Company issued 122,100 shares of Common Stock ($0.25 per share) to an
investor upon their conversion of a Convertible Note.
In May 2009, the Company issued 312,500 shares of Common Stock ($0.08 per share) to an investor
upon their conversion of a Convertible Note.
Net Loss per Common Share The Company calculates basic loss per share (EPS) and diluted EPS.
EPS is computed as net loss divided by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding for
the period. Diluted EPS would reflect the potential dilution that could occur from common shares
issuable through stock options, warrants and other convertible securities. As of June 30, 2009 and
2008, the Company had options, warrants and other convertible securities to purchase an aggregate
of 27,593,406 and 11,746,610 shares of Common Stock, respectively, that were excluded from the
calculation of diluted loss per share as their effects would have been anti-dilutive. Therefore,
the Company only presents basic loss per share on the face of the statement of operations.
Note 8 Related Party Transactions
The Company had a $72,103 advance from one of its board of director members at December 31, 2006
evidenced by a promissory note that accrued interest at 9.5% per annum. The promissory note also
contained an option to acquire 5% of the outstanding capital stock of SRS Energy at a price of
$250,000. In April 2007, the indebtedness under the promissory note was repaid and the promissory
note was cancelled. Under its terms, the right to exercise the option to purchase shares survived
after the repayment of the indebtedness under the note. As part of the merger consideration issued
by the Company pursuant to the acquisition of SRS Energy, the Company issued a warrant exercisable
until August 31, 2009 to purchase 1,923,495 shares of its common stock at $.13 per share to replace
the option included in the promissory note on substantially similar terms as the option.
In August 2007, the Company entered into stock purchase agreements with certain members of the
Board of Directors. In December 2008, the Company entered into stock purchase agreements with the
executive officers. The directors and executive officers issued notes to the Company in exchange
for their stock purchases. See Share-Based Payments footnote for further discussion. These notes
and accumulated interest are recorded as notes receivable in Stockholders Deficit.
The Company had engaged the law firm of Sauerwein, Simon and Blanchard (SSB) related to various
issues including our reverse merger, our SB-2 registration statement, litigation matters and
general business activity. A member of our board of directors is a partner of SSB. For the three
and six months ended June 30, 2009 and 2008, we incurred $-0- and approximately $10 and $59,000 and
$113,000, respectively, in legal fees with SSB. As of June 30, 2009, all amounts have
been paid to SSB except for approximately $90,000.
Note 9 Share-based Payments
The Company accounts for stock options and restricted stock issued to employees, directors and
consultants under SFAS No. 123(R), in which share-based compensation cost to employees, directors
and consultants is measured at the grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the award, and
is recognized as expense over the requisite service period. The Company has no awards with market
or performance conditions.
In March 2007, the Company adopted the 2007 Stock Option Plan (Stock Plan) for its employees,
officers, directors and consultants, which includes an equity compensation plan for non-employee
directors pursuant to which stock options and shares of restricted stock may be granted. The
Company currently has reserved a maximum of 9,000,000 shares of Common Stock to be issued for stock
options or restricted shares awarded under the Stock Plan.
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In August 2007, the Company granted options under the Stock Plan to purchase an aggregate 3,850,000
shares of Common Stock to various employees that vest ratably over three years and options to
purchase an aggregate 160,000 shares of Common Stock to directors that vest ratably over two years.
All of these options have an exercise price of $0.15. The Company also issued an aggregate of
600,000 shares of restricted Common Stock to our directors. Under the agreements, each of our four
directors agreed to purchase 150,000 shares of restricted Common Stock of the Company at a cost of
$0.15 per share. The directors issued promissory notes to the Company in exchange for their stock
purchases. The shares purchased by the directors under the agreements are restricted shares subject
to a right, but not obligation, of repurchase by the Company. The Company may exercise its
repurchase right only during the 60 day period following a directors termination of service on the
Board of Directors. Commencing on September 21, 2007, the Companys repurchase rights lapse at the
rate of 8,333 shares per month of continuous service by each director through September 21, 2008,
when the Companys repurchase rights lapse on 4,167 shares per month of continuous board service
until the repurchase rights have lapsed on all restricted shares. At June 30, 2009, 33,336 shares
remain subject to a right of repurchase. No outstanding options were cancelled or expired as of
June 30, 2009.
In November 2008, the Company granted options under the Stock Plan to purchase an aggregate 100,000
shares of Common Stock to a consultant. The options vest ratably monthly over a one-year period
beginning in December 2008 and have an exercise price of $0.58. In December 2008, the Company: (i)
granted options under the Stock Plan to purchase an aggregate 1,200,000 shares of Common Stock to
employees that vest in thirds on August 31, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and have an exercise price of
$0.36, (ii) granted options under the Stock Plan to purchase 1,200,000 shares of Common Stock to
our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (that replaces options that were to be issued to our CEO upon
commissioning of the pilot plant), that vest in thirds on August 31, 2009, 2010 and 2011 and have
an exercise price of $0.15 and (iii) issued an aggregate of 180,000 shares of restricted Common
Stock to our employees. Under the restricted stock agreements, each of our three employees agreed
to purchase 60,000 shares of restricted Common Stock of the Company at a cost of $0.36 per share.
The employees issued promissory notes to the Company in exchange for their stock purchases. As of
June 30, 2009, 1,421,665 options were vested and exercisable.
Pursuant to a settlement agreement, RAM Resources, L.L.C. obtained the right to acquire an
aggregate of 1,923,495 shares of our Common Stock at a price of $0.13 per share. This warrant is
exercisable during a two year term that started on August 29, 2007 and ends on August 29, 2009.
RAM Resources, L.L.C. agreed to terminate the Letter Agreement and release all claims to acquire
any shares of our stock. The fair value of $125,027 has been recorded in the Companys general and
administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2007 and additional paid in capital at
December 31, 2007.
The estimated fair value of stock option grants is computed using the binomial option-pricing
model. Generally, expected volatility is based on historical periods commensurate with contractual
term of options. However, since we have no history of stock price volatility as a public company at
the time of the grants, we calculated volatility by considering historical volatilities of public
companies in our industry. Due to the short history of our industry, the historical period used in
our calculations is shorter than the contractual term of the options. The fair value for options
granted was determined at the date of grant. The following assumptions were used for options
granted in the corresponding year.
For the years ended December 31, | ||||||||
2008 | 2007 | |||||||
Risk-free interest rate |
1.57 | % | 4.25 | % | ||||
Dividend yield |
0 | % | 0 | % | ||||
Volatility |
36.91 | % | 61.49 | % | ||||
Expected term |
4.8 | 5.0 | ||||||
Fair market value |
$ | 0.12 | $ | 0.08 |
Stock option expense is recognized in the statements of operations ratably over the vesting period
based on the number of options that are expected to ultimately vest. We currently use a forfeiture
rate of zero percent for all
existing share-based compensation awards since we have no historical forfeiture experience under
our share-based payment plans. Our options have characteristics significantly different from those
of traded options and changes in the assumptions can materially affect the fair value estimates.
The following table presents the components of share-based compensation recorded as general and
administrative expense.
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Three months ended | Six months ended | |||||||||||||||
June 30, 2009 | June 30, 2008 | June 30, 2009 | June 30, 2008 | |||||||||||||
Pre-tax compensation expense: |
||||||||||||||||
Stock options |
$ | 146,019 | $ | 51,680 | $ | 229,311 | $ | 134,361 | ||||||||
Warrants |
| | | | ||||||||||||
Total expense |
146,019 | 51,680 | 229,311 | 134,361 | ||||||||||||
Tax benefit, net |
| | | | ||||||||||||
After-tax compensation expense |
$ | 146,019 | $ | 51,680 | $ | 229,311 | $ | 134,361 | ||||||||
Related to these grants, the Company will record future compensation expense for stock options
of approximately $130,000 for the remaining six months of 2009. The potential tax benefit
realizable for the anticipated tax deductions of the exercise of share-based payment arrangements
totaled approximately $190,000 and $100,000 at June 30, 2009 and December 31, 2008, respectively.
However, due to the uncertainty that the tax benefits will be realized, these potential benefits
were not recognized currently.
As of June 30, 2009, there was approximately $275,000 of unrecognized compensation cost related to
all share-based payment arrangements, which will be recognized over a remaining period of
approximately 2 years. There are 5,088,335 options granted that are not yet vested as of June 30,
2009. These options have a weighted average exercise price of $0.20.
Weighted | ||||||||||||
Shares Under | Average | Aggregate | ||||||||||
Option | Exercise Price | intrinsic value | ||||||||||
Options outstanding at December 31, 2008 |
6,510,000 | $ | 0.20 | (1 | ) | |||||||
Granted |
| |||||||||||
Exercised |
| |||||||||||
Forfeited |
| |||||||||||
Options outstanding at June 30, 2009 |
6,510,000 | $ | 0.20 | (1 | ) | |||||||
Options exercisable at June 30, 2009 |
1,421,665 | $ | 0.17 | (1 | ) | |||||||
(1) | The weighted-average exercise price at December 31, 2008 and June 30, 2009 for all outstanding
and exercisable options was greater than the fair value of the Companys common stock on that
date, resulting in an aggregate intrinsic value of $-0-. |
Note 10 Commitments and Contingencies
Project management We have entered into an engagement agreement with Merrick & Company to develop
a complete project management plan. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2009 and 2008, we
incurred approximately $100 and $100 and $17,000 and $74,000, respectively, for engineering, design
and consulting services. In 2008, we completed our initial project plan with Merrick & Company. We
intend to continue to engage Merrick & Company on an as needed basis as we proceed with engineering
review and testing of our technologies.
Duluth Litigation Until a settlement was reached in July 2009, we were a defendant in a lawsuit
filed on January 6, 2009 on behalf of Duluth Venture Capital Partners, L.L.C. (Duluth), one of
our stockholders. The suit was filed in
Superior Court for the State of California. The other defendants to the suit were our officers and
directors, our transfer agent, Keith Mazer and World Capital Funding. The suit alleged among other
things that Duluth Venture Capital Partners, L.L.C. was entitled to transfer certain shares of the
Common Stock of the Company for which stop orders had been previously issued. The case was
subsequently moved to Federal court in the Southern District of California. On March 10, 2009, we
filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. In July 2009, we reached a settlement in this litigation
pursuant to which all claims against the Company and its officers and directors were dismissed with
prejudice. The settlement agreement required the Company to remove stop transfer orders previously
placed on shares of its Common Stock registered in the name of Duluth and make a payment of $25,000
to Duluth. The $25,000 payment was advanced by the Company but is to be recouped by the Company
pursuant to an agreement with its insurance carrier.
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Table of Contents
Leases The Company entered into a lease on October 16, 2007 (and took occupancy in January 2008)
to rent approximately 1,800 square feet of office space for use as our corporate office, located at
7386 Pershing Ave. in St. Louis, Missouri for a term of three years. Our monthly rent under the
lease is $1,800 plus the cost of utilities. We entered into a lease for office furniture in
January 2008. The lease payments are approximately $450 per month for 36 months. This lease is
accounted for as a capital lease for accounting purposes.
Note 11 Subsequent Events
Beginning in April 2009, the Company commenced a second offering of units comprised of a
convertible promissory note and a warrant. As of August 11, 2009, the Company has received $475,000
in investment proceeds. Each convertible promissory note carries a one-year term and a 6% interest
rate. In addition, each note can be converted into shares of Common Stock at $0.08 per share, at
the Note holders option. Each note was issued with a warrant to purchase additional shares of
Common Stock to provide 100% coverage of the Note at a price of $0.30 per share. Under the first
offering of units comprised of a convertible promissory note and warrants, which is now closed, the
Company received $642,000 in investment proceeds.
The Company had a note payable to WWT in the amount of $450,000 and warrants to purchase 900,000
shares of Common Stock at a price of $0.45 per share and warrants to purchase an additional 900,000
shares of Common Stock at a price of $0.45 contingent on payment of the note by July 22, 2009 (the
original maturity date). We entered into amendments dated July 23, 2009 whereby: (i) the Company
paid 10% of the original note and all accrued interest to date, (ii) all previous warrants
(totaling 1,800,000) were reissued at a price of $0.11 with no contingencies and (iii) the
remaining payments on the note will be paid on October 22, 2009 (50% of principal plus accrued
interest to date not yet paid) and January 22, 2010 (remaining principal and accrued interest to
date). The warrants are exercisable at any time for five years from the date of reissuance (July
23, 2009). WWT assigned all of its rights, title and interest in the note, warrants, security
agreement and purchase agreement to Vertex Energy, Inc. as a result of a merger in March 2009.
Item 2. | Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations |
Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
From time to time, we make written or oral statements that are forward-looking, including
statements contained in this report and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) and in our reports to stockholders. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, provide a safe harbor for such
forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included
herein regarding our strategy, future operations, financial position, future revenues, projected
costs, prospects, plans, objectives and other future events and circumstances are forward-looking
statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as
anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, intends, may, plans, projects, would,
should and similar expressions or negative expressions of these terms. Such statements are only
predictions and, accordingly, are subject to substantial risks, uncertainties and assumptions.
Actual results or events could differ materially from the plans, intentions and expectations
disclosed in the forward-looking statements we make. We caution you that any forward-looking
statement reflects only our belief at the time the statement is made. Although we believe that the
expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are
reasonable, we cannot guarantee our future results, levels of activity, performance or
achievements. Refer to our Risk Factors section of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year
ended December 31, 2008, filed with the SEC on March 30, 2009, for a full description of factors we
believe could cause actual results or events to differ materially from the forward-looking
statements that we make. These factors include:
| the commercial viability of our technologies, |
||
| our ability to maintain and enforce our exclusive rights to our technologies, |
||
| our ability to raise additional capital on favorable terms to continue developing
our technologies; |
||
| the demand for and production costs of various energy products made from our
biomass, |
||
| competition from other alternative energy technologies, and |
||
| other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in our filings with the
SEC. |
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Although we believe the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are based
upon reasonable assumptions, it is not possible to foresee or identify all factors that could have
a material and negative impact on our future performance. The forward-looking statements in this
report are made on the basis of managements assumptions and analyses as of the time the statements
are made, in light of their experience and perception of historical conditions, expected future
developments and other factors believed to be appropriate under the circumstances.
Company Overview
The following discussion of our company overview and plan of operation should be read in
conjunction with the financial statements and related notes to the financial statements included
elsewhere in this report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that relate to future
events or our future financial performance. These statements involve known and unknown risks,
uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity or
performance to be materially different from any future results, levels of activity or performance.
These risks and other factors include, among others, those listed under Statement Regarding
Forward-Looking Information.
We are a development stage company that has recently changed its focus from being a fully
integrated cellulosic ethanol producer to being a provider of cellulosic biomass derived from
municipal solid waste, also known as MSW, for any energy product. Previously, our business focused
on utilizing the following technologies to produce ethanol:
| a pressurized steam classification technology, which we refer to as the PSC
technology, invented at the University of Alabama, Huntsville that used a pressurized steam
classification vessel to convert MSW into cellulosic material while simultaneously
segregating and eliminating any inorganic materials in the solid waste and cleaning
recyclable materials in the MSW; |
| a sulfuric acid hydrolysis process, which we refer to as the Brelsford technology,
developed by Brelsford Engineering, Inc. that employs an acid hydrolysis process to convert
cellulosic material into fermentable sugars, which can then be fermented into ethanol, and; |
| a nitric acid hydrolysis process, which we refer to as our HFTA technology, developed
by scientists working at the University of California, Berkeley, that incorporates
anticipated improvements in chemical reaction by which acid hydrolysis occurs. |
In January 2008, we purchased a small scale unit designed to operate the HFTA technology from the
University of California Berkeley and moved this unit to the Hazen Research facility in Golden
Colorado. The unit was reconstructed and used to analyze the sugar content obtainable from a
variety of biomass derived from different sources of garbage and waste paper. Based on these
results, we determined that there are sufficient amounts of sugars obtainable from the biomass we
derive from garbage to warrant further development and potential commercialization of the HFTA
technology.
In September 2008, we acquired the exclusive rights to a Biomass Recovery System developed by
Anthony Noll that we refer to as our Biomass Recovery Process, which is technology comprised of
improvements to the patent we acquired in October 2008. Our rights to use the Biomass Recovery
Process technology permit us to use the biomass we derive from MSW to produce all energy products.
In October 2008, we acquired the patent for the PSC technology from World Waste Technologies
(WWT), who previously had purchased the patent from the University of Alabama Huntsville. As a
result, we became the licensor of the PSC technology to Bio-Products International, Inc.
(Bio-Products) under its Master License Agreement. Bio-Products was the sublicensor of the PSC
technology to us.
During the fourth quarter of 2008, Brelsford Engineering, Inc. terminated our license to the
Brelsford technology for non-payment of certain fees. We have decided not to use this technology
going forward in our operations and thus have written off the remaining asset as of December 31,
2008. The impairment loss of $97,500 is included in research and development expense on the
statement of operations for the year ended December 31, 2008.
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Since early 2008, we had been in litigation against Bio-Products regarding our use of the PSC
technology as a sublicensee. In March 2009, we entered into a Settlement Agreement with
Bio-Products settling all of these claims. Pursuant to the Settlement Agreement, in addition to a
customary mutual release, Bio-Products entered into a covenant not to sue whereby Bio-Products and
its related parties agreed to permit us to use the Biomass Recovery Process technology worldwide,
for any product that we desire and with no royalty due to Bio-Products. We also mutually
terminated the License Agreement with Bio-Products that had granted to us a sublicense to use the
PSC technology. As a result, we have no further obligations thereunder. Due to our ownership of
the patent covering the PSC technology, we continue to be the licensor of the PSC technology to
Bio-Products under the Master License Agreement. As a result of the Settlement Agreement, we are
now capable of using the Biomass Recovery Process technology to produce any energy product that we
desire and are no longer limited to production of fuel grade ethanol in the United States.
We were originally incorporated in 1996 as Long Road Entertainment, Inc., and were formed to
operate as a holding company for businesses in the theater, motion picture and entertainment
industries. We ceased conducting that business in 2005 and were dormant until the fall of 2006, at
which time our founder and then controlling stockholder decided to pursue the sale of the company.
In anticipation of that sale, we changed our name to Alternative Ethanol Technologies, Inc.
On March 27, 2007, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger and Reorganization in which we
agreed to acquire SRS Energy, Inc., a Delaware corporation that is the holder of the technology
licenses. Pursuant to the merger agreement, SRS Acquisition Sub, our wholly-owned subsidiary,
merged into SRS Energy with SRS Energy as the surviving corporation. We consummated the merger on
May 31, 2007 resulting in SRS Energy becoming our wholly-owned subsidiary. Effective August 2,
2007, we changed our name to CleanTech Biofuels, Inc.
SRS Energy was originally formed as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Supercritical Recovery Systems,
Inc., a Delaware corporation, in July 2004. At that time, Supercritical Recovery Systems was a
licensee of various technologies for the processing of waste materials into usable products. While
investigating different technologies, Supercritical Recovery Systems was introduced to the PSC and
Brelsford technologies and secured licenses to the technologies in SRS Energy. Prior to our
acquisition of SRS Energy, Supercritical Recovery Systems distributed approximately 80% of its
ownership of SRS Energy to the stockholders of Supercritical Recovery Systems. Since our
acquisition of SRS Energy, Supercritical Recovery Systems has ceased its business activities with
respect to licensing other technologies.
We have no operating history as a producer of biomass feedstocks or any energy products and have
not constructed any commercial operating plants to date. We have no operating revenues to date and
expect that our current capital and other existing resources will be sufficient only to complete a
portion of the testing of our technologies and to provide a limited amount of working capital. The
Company will require substantial additional capital to implement its business plan and it may be
unable to obtain the capital required to do so. If we are not able to timely and successfully raise
additional capital and/or achieve profitability or positive cash flow, we will be required to delay
our development and may not be able to implement our business plan.
Recent Developments
Beginning in April 2009, the Company commenced a second offering of units comprised of a
convertible promissory note and a warrant. As of August 11, 2009, the Company has received $475,000
in investment proceeds. Each convertible promissory note carries a one-year term and a 6% interest
rate. In addition, each note can be converted into shares of the Companys common stock, par value
$0.001 per share (the Common Stock), at $0.08 per share, at the Note holders option. Each note
was issued with a warrant to purchase additional shares of Common Stock to provide 100% coverage of
the Note at a price of $0.30 per share. Under the first offering of units comprised of a
convertible promissory note and warrants, which is now closed, the Company received $642,000 in
investment proceeds.
During the first quarter of 2009, we constructed a small-scale test vessel. This vessel has
operated in Kentucky beginning in April 2009 processing approximately 12 tons of MSW. The biomass
will be tested as a feedstock in energy conversion technologies that are ready for
commercialization.
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In July 2009, the Company entered into a joint research agreement with Fiberight, LLC
(Fiberight), to establish the anticipated yields and operating costs from using biomass produced
by us for the production of ethanol using Fiberights proprietary enzymatic processes. Under the
agreement, we provided approximately 2000 pounds of biomass feedstock derived from MSW from the
City of Chicago to use in Fiberights conversion technology.
In August 2009, the Company entered into a joint research agreement with GeoSyn Fuels, L.L.C.
(GeoSyn) whereby the Company will provide GeoSyn with biomass feedstock derived from MSW from the
City of Chicago for GeoSyns testing of their proprietary process for converting biomass into
ethanol and other products.
In July 2009, we reached a settlement in the litigation with Duluth Venture Capital Partners,
L.L.C. (Duluth) pursuant to which all claims against the Company and its officers and directors
were dismissed with prejudice. The settlement agreement required the Company to remove stop
transfer orders previously placed on shares of its Common Stock registered in the name of Duluth
and make a payment of $25,000 to Duluth. This payment was advanced by the Company and has been
recouped by the Company pursuant to an agreement with its insurance carrier.
The Company had a note payable to WWT in the amount of $450,000 and warrants to purchase 900,000
shares of Common Stock at a price of $0.45 per share and warrants to purchase an additional 900,000
shares of Common Stock at a price of $0.45 contingent on payment of the note by July 22, 2009 (the
original maturity date). We entered into amendments dated July 23, 2009 whereby: (i) the Company
paid 10% of the original note and all accrued interest to date, (ii) all previous warrants
(totaling 1,800,000) were reissued at a price of $0.11 with no contingencies and (iii) the
remaining payments on the note will be paid on October 22, 2009 (50% of principal plus accrued
interest to date not yet paid) and January 22, 2010 (remaining principal and accrued interest to
date). The warrants are exercisable at any time for five years from the date of reissuance (July
23, 2009). WWT assigned all of its rights, title and interest in the note, warrants, security
agreement and purchase agreement to Vertex Energy, Inc. as a result of a merger in March 2009.
Plan of Operation
The following discussion of our plan of operation should be read in conjunction with the financial
statements and related notes to the financial statements included elsewhere in this report. This
discussion contains forward-looking statements that relate to future events or our future financial
performance. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that
may cause our actual results, levels of activity or performance to be materially different from any
future results, levels of activity or performance. These risks and other factors include, among
others, those listed under Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information.
Our company was initially conceived as a fully-integrated producer of cellulosic ethanol using a
technology for cleaning and separating municipal solid waste, also known as MSW, into its component
parts, which we refer to as the PSC technology and a dilute acid hydrolysis technology developed by
Brelsford Engineering, Inc. To further enhance our ability to produce ethanol, in 2008 we licensed
a technology that uses nitric acid to hydrolize biomass into ethanol. The technology developed at
the University of California Berkeley is controlled by HFTA, Inc.
pursuant to a Master License Agreement with the University of California Berkeley and sublicensed
to us for the production of ethanol from MSW.
Based on our investigation and acquisition of new technologies and research and development of our
existing technologies in 2008, we have re-focused our business on the commercialization of our
technology for cleaning and separating MSW into its component parts through the acquisition of
further technology to clean and separate MSW, which we refer to as the Biomass Recovery Process and
is currently in use in a commercial setting in Australia. As a result, we believe this technology
is ready for commercial implementation in the United States and elsewhere. In furtherance of our
new focus, we have begun evaluating potential commercial projects using our technology.
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Biomass Feedstock Production
We are seeking sites to develop a facility in Chicago, Illinois including negotiating a lease for a
facility to construct an operating commercial plant in Chicago, Illinois. The site we intend to
lease currently has a commercial waste transfer station in operation by a third party. In
anticipation of completing the lease, the owner of the property has commenced the permitting
process to obtain the permits necessary for us to convert the commercial waste transfer station
into a residential MSW transfer station and install our vessels for processing the waste delivered
to the transfer station into cellulosic biomass. We will be required to pay the expenses incurred
to date for permitting at the site upon completing our lease. Any new site we seek to develop may
require us to seek permits or licenses to operate such sites. The biomass we expect to produce will
be sold to utilities or other energy producers operating near the plant for combustion in existing
co-fired boilers. We have provided our biomass to different utility owners for testing the BTU
value and emissions profile and universally have been advised by the utilities that our biomass can
be used as a feedstock for combustion together with coal.
We have completed construction of a small test vessel in Kentucky. Beginning in April 2009, this
vessel has processed approximately 12 tons of MSW into approximately 4-5 tons of biomass. We are
providing the biomass produced during this testing phase to a variety of fuel producers who are
evaluating the biomass we produce from MSW as a feedstock for their technologies. We continue to
evaluate opportunities to construct a larger scale plant in the Chicago area. Additionally, other
development opportunities outside of Chicago have been presented to us and we are currently
evaluating those potential developments in addition to pursuing the Chicago market. Also, a variety
of federal, state and local stimulus funds, grant opportunities, loan guarantees and other programs
have recently been announced or are expected to be announced in the near-term that have opened a
variety of new development opportunities for the Company. Upon operating a plant in Chicago or at
one of the other places we are evaluating and after refining our know-how with respect to
implementation of the technology, we intend to seek to partner with waste haulers, landfill owners
and municipalities to implement the technology across the United States and internationally.
The further implementation of the commercial plant described above will require significant
additional capital, which we currently do not have. We cannot provide any assurance that we will be
able to raise this additional capital. We anticipate that financing for this project will be
provided in large part via tax exempt bond financing. In addition we intend to seek funding and
loan guarantees from local, state and federal authorities. On January 23, 2009, our partner in the
Chicago project submitted an application to the City of Chicago for a $100,000 grant to develop an
organic waste processing station in the city. We believe that further opportunities to utilize
governmental assistance will become available for this project.
Diesel Fuel Production.
We are working to complete an agreement with Green Power, Inc. (Green Power) to build a 200 ton
per day MSW processing station to provide biomass for an existing 100 ton per day diesel fuel
production plant. We have not completed an agreement to date and there can be no assurance that we
will complete any agreement and proceed with this development. Green Power has constructed a
facility in Pasco, Washington capable of processing up to 100 tons of organic biomass material per
day into diesel. The diesel produced is not biodiesel, but rather a high grade fuel diesel. Green
Power has tested the system with wood waste and other organic matter and the results have proven
superior, however it is difficult and costly to obtain long term supplies of organic matter to
operate the plant on a continuous basis. We believe that the organic matter we derive from MSW
(biomass and plastics) will provide an excellent feedstock for the Green Power process.
New Technologies; Commercializing Existing Technologies
Because of our unique ability to produce a clean, homogenous biomass feedstock, we are frequently
presented with the opportunity to partner with or acquire new technologies. In addition to
developing our current technologies, we will continue to add technologies to our suite of solutions
that complement our core operations. We believe that our current technologies and aspects of those
in development will enable us to eventually expand our business to use organic material from other
waste streams such as municipal bio-solids from waste water facilities and animal waste for fuel
production.
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To commercialize this technology, we intend to:
| construct and operate a commercial plant that processes MSW into cellulosic
biomass for combustion in existing co-fired boilers for power; |
| identify and partner with landfill owners, waste haulers and municipalities to
identify locations suitable for our technology; and |
| pursue additional opportunities to implement our technology in commercial
settings at transfer stations and landfills in the United States and elsewhere in the
world. |
Our ability to implement this strategy will depend on our ability to raise significant amounts of
additional capital and to hire appropriate managers and staff. Our success will also depend on a
variety of market forces and other developments beyond our control.
Results of Operations
The following tables set forth the amounts of expenses and changes represented by certain items
reflected in our consolidated statements of operations for the three and six months ended June 30,
2009 and 2008:
Three months ended | ||||||||||||
June 30, 2009 | June 30, 2008 | Change | ||||||||||
General and administrative |
$ | 345,004 | $ | 155,107 | $ | 189,897 | ||||||
Professional fees |
83,161 | 78,946 | 4,215 | |||||||||
Research and development |
| 53,812 | (53,812 | ) | ||||||||
Operating loss |
428,165 | 287,865 | 140,300 | |||||||||
Other expense (income): |
||||||||||||
Interest expense |
246,165 | 4,136 | 242,029 | |||||||||
Amortization of technology license |
| 3,750 | (3,750 | ) | ||||||||
Other income |
(27,333 | ) | | (27,333 | ) | |||||||
Interest income |
(2,266 | ) | (252 | ) | (2,014 | ) | ||||||
Net loss applicable to common stockholders |
$ | 644,731 | $ | 295,499 | $ | 349,232 | ||||||
General and administrative The increase in expense in 2009 is due primarily to accruing salaries
for all employees in 2009 compared to salary earned only by the CEO in 2008, an increase of
approximately $50,000 in share-based compensation expense and $25,000 in increased marketing
expenses.
Research and Development The decrease in 2009 is due primarily to a shift in focus in our plan of
operation from a fully-integrated producer of cellulosic ethanol to the commercialization of our
technology for cleaning and separating MSW into its component parts as described earlier in this
report.
Interest expense The increase in 2009 is due primarily to the amortization of approximately
$225,000 of discounts related to various notes and approximately $18,000 in interest on those
notes. These notes were issued from September 2008 through June 2009 and thus no interest was
incurred during the three months ended June 30, 2008.
Amortization The asset related to this amortization was written off as of December 31, 2008 as we
no longer plan to use the technology in our plan of operations going forward. As we have not yet
commenced our operations, we have no amortization in 2009 for our current technology assets.
Other income The income in 2009 is for the leasing of our HFTA equipment, which expired on May
31, 2009, and the subsequent sale of this equipment.
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Interest income The interest income in 2009 is for interest earned on the notes receivable from
our directors and executive officers related to the issuance of restricted stock.
Six months ended | ||||||||||||
June 30, 2009 | June 30, 2008 | Change | ||||||||||
General and administrative |
$ | 588,827 | $ | 301,330 | $ | 287,497 | ||||||
Professional fees |
192,574 | 190,892 | 1,682 | |||||||||
Research and development |
101 | 236,916 | (236,815 | ) | ||||||||
Operating loss |
781,502 | 729,138 | 52,364 | |||||||||
Other expense (income): |
||||||||||||
Interest expense |
472,292 | 23,887 | 448,405 | |||||||||
Amortization of technology license |
| 7,500 | (7,500 | ) | ||||||||
Other income |
(32,000 | ) | | (32,000 | ) | |||||||
Interest income |
(4,507 | ) | (5,979 | ) | 1,472 | |||||||
Net loss applicable to common stockholders |
$ | 1,217,287 | $ | 754,546 | $ | 462,741 | ||||||
General and administrative The increase in expense in 2009 is due primarily to accruing salaries
for all employees in 2009 compared to salary earned only by the CEO in 2008, an increase of
approximately $135,000 in share-based compensation expense and $40,000 in increased marketing
expenses.
Research and Development The decrease in 2009 is due primarily to a shift in focus in our plan of
operation from a fully-integrated producer of cellulosic ethanol to the commercialization of our
technology for cleaning and separating MSW into its component parts as described earlier in this
report.
Interest expense The increase in 2009 is due primarily to the amortization of approximately
$430,000 of discounts related to various notes and approximately $34,000 interest on those notes.
These notes were issued from September 2008 through March 2009 and thus no interest was incurred
during the six months ended June 30, 2008. This increase in interest was offset partially by
reduced interest expense in 2009 on our Series A Convertible Notes as all but $140,000 of the notes
were converted by the end of April 2008.
Amortization The asset related to this amortization was written off as of December 31, 2008 as we
no longer plan to use the technology in our plan of operations going forward. As we have not yet
commenced our operations, we have no amortization in 2009 for our current technology assets.
Other income The income in 2009 is for the leasing of our HFTA equipment, which expired on May
31, 2009, and the subsequent sale of this equipment.
Interest income The income in 2008 is primarily interest on $450,000 of promissory notes issued
to us as part of the consideration for the issuance of the Series A Convertible Debentures. We
received the $450,000 plus accrued interest on March 14, 2008 and thus no longer earn interest at
6% per annum on those notes. The interest in 2009 is for interest earned on the notes receivable
from our directors and executive officers related to the issuance of restricted stock.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We have no operating revenues to date and will be required to raise additional capital in order to
execute our business plan and commercialize our products.
Beginning in September 2008 and as of August 11, 2009, we raised $642,000 and $475,000,
respectively, in separate note issuances from investors in exchange for units comprised of a
convertible note and warrants. We are continuing to explore opportunities to raise cash through the
issuance of these units and other financing opportunities. As of August 11, 2009, our current cash
will be sufficient to fund approximately the next month. Thereafter, we anticipate requiring
additional capital to continue our plan of operation. These costs will be substantially greater
than our current available funds. We currently expect attempting to obtain additional financing
through the sale of additional equity, various government funding opportunities and/or possibly
through strategic alliances with larger energy or waste management companies. However, we may not
be successful in securing additional capital. If we are not able to obtain additional financing in
the near-term future, we will be required to delay our development until such financing becomes
available. Further, even assuming that we secure additional funds, we may never achieve
profitability or positive cash flow. If we are not able to timely and successfully raise additional
capital and/or achieve profitability or positive cash flow, we will not have sufficient capital
resources to implement our business plan.
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Debt
Convertible Notes Payable
During September 2008, the Company commenced an offering of units comprised of a convertible
promissory note and warrants. As of June 30, 2009, the Company raised a total of $642,000 of
investment proceeds. One note was converted during the first quarter of 2009 leaving $612,000 face
value of notes outstanding. Each convertible promissory note carries a one-year term and a 6%
interest rate. In addition, each note can be converted, at the note holders option, at any time
during the one-year term into shares of the Companys common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the
Common Stock), at $0.25 per share, or prior to the closing of any Qualifying Equity Financing
(minimum capital received of $5 million). Each note was issued with a warrant to purchase
additional shares of Common Stock equal to the principal amount of the promissory note at a price
of $0.45 per share. These promissory notes have been recorded as short-term debt (notes payable) in
the financial statements, net of discounts for the conversion and warrant features. This offering
is now closed. The discounts are being amortized on a straight-line basis over the term of each
note. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2009, amortization of approximately $150,000 and
$300,000 for these discounts has been recorded in interest expense.
During April 2009, the Company commenced a second offering of units comprised of a convertible
promissory note and warrants. As of June 30, 2009, the Company raised a total of $410,000 of
investment proceeds. One note was converted during the second quarter of 2009 leaving $385,000 face
value of notes outstanding. Each convertible promissory note carries a one-year term and a 6%
interest rate. In addition, each note can be converted, at the note holders option, at any time
during the one-year term into shares of the Companys Common Stock, at $0.08 per share, or prior to
the closing of any Qualifying Equity Financing (minimum capital received of $5 million). Each note
was issued with a warrant to purchase additional shares of Common Stock to provide 100% coverage of
the promissory note at a price of $0.30 per share. These promissory notes have been recorded as
short-term debt (notes payable) in the financial statements, net of discounts for the conversion
and warrant features. The discounts are being amortized on a straight-line basis over the term of
each note. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2009, amortization of approximately $15,000
for these discounts has been recorded in interest expense.
WWT Note Payable
On October 22, 2008, the Company completed the purchase of Patent No. 6,306,248 (the Patent)
pursuant to a Patent Purchase Agreement (Agreement) with World Waste Technologies, Inc. (WWT).
The Patent is the basis for the pressurized steam classification technology that cleans and
separates municipal solid waste into its component parts, which the Company had licensed from
Bio-Products International, Inc. Pursuant to the Agreement, the Company issued to WWT a note in the
amount of $450,000 and a warrant to purchase 900,000 shares of Common Stock at a price of $0.45 per
share and warrants to purchase an additional 900,000 shares of Common Stock at a price of $0.45
contingent on payment of the note by July 22, 2009 (the original maturity date). We entered into
amendments dated July 23, 2009 whereby: (i) the Company paid 10% of the original note and all
accrued interest to date, (ii) all previous warrants (totaling 1,800,000) were reissued at a price
of $0.11 with no contingencies and (iii) the remaining payments on the note will be paid on October
22, 2009 (50% of principal plus accrued interest to date not yet paid) and January 22, 2010
(remaining principal and accrued interest to date). The warrants are exercisable at any time for
five years from the date of reissuance (July 23, 2009). WWT assigned all of its rights, title and
interest in the note, warrants, security agreement and purchase agreement to Vertex Energy, Inc. as
a result of a merger in March 2009. The value of these warrants has been recorded as a
contra-balance amount discount with the note and is being amortized through interest expense over
the life of the note. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2009, amortization of
approximately $60,000 and $120,000 for this discount has been recorded in interest expense.
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Series A Convertible Debentures
In April 2007, the Company sold $1,400,000 of Series A Convertible Debentures (Debentures), due
April 16, 2010, that convert into shares of the Companys Common Stock at $.15 per share. The
Company filed a registration statement with regard to the sale of these shares of Common Stock,
which was declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 2, 2008. The
debentures accrue interest at 6% per annum. The interest is payable in cash or shares of the
Companys Common Stock at the Companys option. The Debenture Holders can convert their amount into
shares at any time until the due date. The maximum number of shares that would be issued at the due
date is 11,013,333.
During March 2008, various debenture holders converted an aggregate amount of $630,000 of our
Debentures, plus interest earned, into 4,433,067 shares of Common Stock. During April 2008, various
debenture holders converted an aggregate amount of $630,000 of our Debentures, plus interest
earned, into 4,455,844 shares of Common Stock. These transactions converted in the aggregate
$1,260,000 of our Debentures, leaving $140,000 remaining to be converted. As of June 30, 2009,
$140,000 of our Debentures remained outstanding and eligible for conversion.
Summary of Cash Flow Activity
Six Months Ended June 30, | ||||||||
2009 | 2008 | |||||||
Net cash used by operating activities |
$ | (371,237 | ) | $ | (524,381 | ) | ||
Net cash used by investing activities |
(20,702 | ) | (26,679 | ) | ||||
Net cash provided by financing activities |
397,862 | 473,796 |
Net cash used by operating activities
During the six months ended June 30, 2009, cash used by operating activities was impacted primarily
by increases in accounts payable and other accrued liabilities.
Net cash used by investing activities
During 2009, cash used by investing activities was for the purchase of a small-scale vessel. In
2008, cash used by investing activities was for the purchase of office furniture and the HFTA
equipment.
Net cash provided by financing activities
During 2009, cash provided by financing activities was primarily from the issuance of convertible
notes of $445,000 offset by payments against a note payable. In 2008, cash provided by financing
activities was primarily from the remaining portion of the Series A Convertible Debentures plus
interest of $474,900.
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Contractual Obligations and Commitments
In the table below, we set forth our obligations as of June 30, 2009. Some of the figures we
include in this table are based on our estimates and assumptions about these obligations, including
their durations, anticipated actions by
third parties and other factors. The obligations we may pay in future periods may vary from those
reflected in this table because of estimates or actions of third parties as disclosed in the notes
to the table.
Payments due by Period | ||||||||||||||||||||
Less than 1 | More than 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
Total | year | 1 to 3 years | 4 to 5 years | years | ||||||||||||||||
Convertible Notes (1) |
$ | 1,083,320 | $ | 1,083,320 | $ | | $ | | $ | | ||||||||||
WWT Note (2) |
470,250 | 470,250 | | | | |||||||||||||||
Series A Convertible Debentures (3) |
140,000 | 140,000 | | | | |||||||||||||||
Capital Lease (4) |
9,450 | 5,400 | 4,050 | | | |||||||||||||||
Operating Lease (5) |
32,400 | 21,600 | 10,800 | | | |||||||||||||||
Total contractual obligations |
$ | 1,735,420 | $ | 1,720,570 | $ | 14,850 | $ | | $ | | ||||||||||
(1) | Amount represents value of principal amount of notes and estimates for interest. These
notes are with various
individuals, carry one-year terms and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at the
noteholders option. The first of
these notes are due October 1, 2009. If the noteholders do not convert their notes into shares of
Common Stock, the notes
will have to be repaid or refinanced. |
|
(2) | Amount represents value of principal amount of note and interest through term of note. |
|
(3) | Debentures are convertible at Companys option into shares of the Companys common stock. |
|
(4) | Represents lease on office furniture. |
|
(5) | Represents lease for office space. The lease is for three years from occupancy date of January
2008. |
Additionally, we have the following commitment that will require us to make payments as set
forth below:
Merrick & Company. We have entered into an engagement agreement with Merrick & Company to develop a
complete project management plan. For the three and six months ended June 30, 2009 and 2008, we
incurred approximately $100 and $100, and $17,000 and $74,000, respectively, for engineering,
design and consulting services. In 2008, we completed our initial project plan with Merrick &
Company. We intend to continue to engage Merrick & Company on an as needed basis as we proceed with
engineering review and testing of our technologies.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We have no off-balance sheet arrangements.
Critical Accounting Policies
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States of America. Certain accounting issues require management estimates
and judgments for the preparation of financial statements. Our management periodically evaluates
the estimates and judgments made. Management bases its estimates and judgments on historical
experience and on various factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.
Actual results may differ from these estimates as a result of different assumptions or conditions.
We believe that the estimates, assumptions and judgments relating to research and development
costs, share-based compensation and income tax matters have the greatest potential impact on our
financial statements. Therefore, we consider these to be our critical accounting estimates. Our
critical accounting policies and estimates are more fully described in our annual report on Form
10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on
March 30, 2009. Our critical accounting policies and estimate assumptions have not changed during
the six months ended June 30, 2009.
Item 3. | Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk |
Not applicable.
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Item 4T. | Controls and Procedures |
Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures We maintain a set of disclosure
controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports
filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Act), is recorded, processed,
summarized and reported within the time periods specified by the Security and Exchange Commissions
(the SEC) rules and regulations. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of
ensuring that this information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our
chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions
regarding required disclosure.
Our management does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will necessarily prevent
all fraud and material error. Our disclosure controls and procedures are designed to provide
reasonable assurance of achieving the objectives outlined above. Based on their most recent
evaluation, our chief executive officer and chief financial officer concluded that our disclosure
controls and procedures are effective at that reasonable assurance
level at June 30, 2009.
Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints,
including, but not limited to having three total employees (chief executive officer, general
counsel and chief financial officer), and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to
their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls
can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the
Company have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in
decision-making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting During the three months ended June
30, 2009, there were no material changes in the Companys internal control over financial reporting
that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, the Companys
internal control over financial reporting.
PART II. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 1. | Legal Proceedings |
Duluth Venture Capital Partners, L.L.C. v. Cleantech Biofuels, Inc., et al. Until a settlement was
reached in July 2009, we were a defendant in a lawsuit filed on January 6, 2009 on behalf of Duluth
Venture Capital Partners, L.L.C. (Duluth), one of our stockholders. The suit was filed in
Superior Court for the State of California. The other defendants to the suit were our officers and
directors, our transfer agent, Keith Mazer and World Capital Funding. The suit alleged among other
things that Duluth was entitled to transfer certain shares of the common stock of the Company for
which stop orders had been previously issued. The case was subsequently moved to Federal court in
the Southern District of California. On March 10, 2009, we filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleged that World Capital Funding and/or Keith Mazer is the beneficial owner of
certain shares of our Common Stock owned by Brite Star Associates, L.L.C., Fountain Consulting,
L.L.C., St. Ives Consulting, Inc., Trinity Enterprises, and Padstow Estates, Inc. Each of these
entities is a Selling Stockholder who had completed and delivered a Selling Stockholder
Questionnaire to the Company representing the beneficial ownership of the shares as set forth in
our public filings.
In the interest of caution, given the subject matter of the allegations, we issued a Stop Order for
all shares of Common Stock owned by the entities set forth in the lawsuit filed on behalf of
Duluth. After conducting further investigation of this matter, we determined that we did not have
sufficient evidence to verify the validity or invalidity of the claims made in the lawsuit and the
information set out in the Selling Stockholder Questionnaires obtained from the stockholders named
in that lawsuit.
In order to prevent any unwarranted transfers of our common stock while the issue of correct
beneficial ownership of these shares was being resolved, we suspended the registration rights for
the following Selling Stockholders. On February 24, 2009, we filed a Supplement to our prospectus
dated January 2, 2008 and the prospectus supplement dated January 10, 2008, removing such
stockholders from our Selling Stockholders, thereby making the shares restricted:
Selling Stockholder | Shares Suspended | |||
Brite Star Associates, Inc. |
1,777,867 | |||
Fountain Consulting, Inc. |
1,482,000 | |||
St Ives Consulting, Inc. |
1,368,000 | |||
Trinity Enterprises, L.L.C. |
1,966,667 | |||
Padstow Estates, Inc. |
1,966,667 |
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In July 2009, we reached a settlement in this litigation pursuant to which all claims against the
Company and its officers and directors were dismissed with prejudice. The settlement agreement
required the Company to remove stop transfer orders previously placed on shares of its Common Stock
registered in the name of Duluth and make a payment of $25,000 to Duluth. This payment was advanced
by the Company and has been recouped by the Company pursuant to an agreement with its insurance
carrier.
Ram Resources, L.L.C. v. CleanTech Biofuels, Inc. On November 6, 2008 RAM Resources, L.L.C. filed a
request for temporary injunction in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County seeking to have us remove
the restrictive legend on 552,335 shares of our Common Stock owned by RAM Resources, L.L.C. The
shares held by RAM Resources, L.L.C. we reissued in private transactions and as such are subject to
the requirements of Rule 144 of Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, including Rule 144(i).
Based on our understanding of Rule 144(i) and conversations with the United States Securities and
Exchange Commission, we believe that it is not permissible to remove a restrictive legend on shares
of our stock in advance of a sale of those shares. On November 7, 2008, an order requiring us to
authorize the removal of the restrictive legend on 552,335 shares of our Common Stock owned by RAM
Resources, L.L.C. was entered. This order was later reaffirmed by the court after a preliminary
injunction hearing. We have complied with this order and we understand that RAM Resources, L.L.C.
has obtained a certificate for 552,335 shares of stock without restrictive legend. We have
established a procedure for clearing shares of our stock for removal of restrictive legends that
complies with the requirements of Rule 144(i) and are seeking to settle this litigation by
developing a mutually satisfactory process to enable RAM Resources, L.L.C. to comply with Rule
144(i). If RAM Resources, L.L.C. does not agree to comply with the procedures we have established
to ensure that all of the conditions of Rule 144(i) are met at the time of sales of previously
restricted stock, we will be required to defend this claim and seek a resolution that ensures
compliance with Rule 144(i) by RAM Resources, L.L.C.
Item 1A. | Risk Factors |
In addition to the other information set forth in this report, you should carefully consider the
risk factors discussed in Part I, Item 1A in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2008, which could materially affect our business, financial condition or future
results. These cautionary statements are to be used as a reference in connection with any
forward-looking statements. The factors, risks and uncertainties identified in these cautionary
statements are in addition to those contained in any other cautionary statements, written or oral,
which may be made or otherwise addressed in connection with a forward-looking statement or
contained in any of our subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Item 2. | Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds |
During April 2009, the Company commenced a second offering of units comprised of a convertible
promissory note and a warrant. As of June 30, 2009, the Company had issued promissory notes having
an aggregate original principal amount of $410,000. Each convertible promissory note carries a
one-year term and a 6% interest rate. In addition, each note can be converted into shares of the
Companys common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the Common Stock), at $0.08 per share at the
holders option. Each note was issued with a warrant to purchase additional shares of Common Stock
to provide 100% coverage of the principal amount of the associated note at a price of $0.30 per
share. One note, having a face value of $25,000, was converted into Common Stock at a per
share conversion price of $0.08 during the second quarter of 2009 leaving $385,000 face value of
notes outstanding. The issuance of units and the issuance of Common Stock upon conversion of notes
were exempt from the registration requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the
Securities Act), pursuant to Rule 506 of Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act and/or
Section 4(2) of the Securities Act.
Item 3. | Defaults Upon Senior Securities None. |
Item 4. | Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders None. |
Item 5. | Other Information None. |
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Item 6. | Exhibits |
(a) The following documents are filed as a part of this Report.
EXHIBIT NO. | DESCRIPTION | |||
31.1 | Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of the
Securities Exchange Act, as amended. |
|||
31.2 | Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of
the Securities Exchange Act, as amended. |
|||
32.1 | Certification (Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002) of Chief Executive Officer. |
|||
32.2 | Certification (Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002) of Principal Financial Officer. |
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SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused
this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned thereunto duly authorized.
CLEANTECH BIOFUELS, INC. |
||||
Date: August 13, 2009 | /s/ Edward P. Hennessey, Jr. | |||
Edward P. Hennessey, Jr. | ||||
Chief Executive Officer | ||||
Date: August 13, 2009 | /s/ Thomas Jennewein | |||
Thomas Jennewein | ||||
Chief Financial Officer and Principal Accounting Officer |
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INDEX TO EXHIBITS
EXHIBIT NO. | DESCRIPTION | |||
31.1 | Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of the
Securities Exchange Act, as amended. |
|||
31.2 | Certification of Principal Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) and Rule 15d-14(a) of
the Securities Exchange Act, as amended. |
|||
32.1 | Certification (Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002) of Chief Executive Officer. |
|||
32.2 | Certification (Pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350 as Adopted Pursuant to Section 906 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002) of Principal Financial Officer. |
30