Lignol Joins Carbon Fiber Consortium

VANCOUVER, May 3, 2012 /CNW/ - Lignol Energy Corporation (TSXV: LEC) a leading technology company in the advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals sector, today announced that it has become a member of the Oak Ridge Carbon Fiber Composites Consortium ("Consortium"). The Consortium is composed of some 40 organizations with a common interest in the development and commercial deployment of new carbon fiber and composite materials.  Members include some of the world's leading chemicals, materials and auto-manufacturing companies, as well as established carbon fiber manufacturers and several research institutes.

The Consortium (www.cfcomposites.org) is managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ("ORNL") which is the largest science and energy national laboratory in the US Department of Energy system. ORNL is engaged in a number of research and development initiatives in the carbon fiber space and will soon complete construction of the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility ("CFTC"), which will include a pilot plant capable of producing up to 25 tons per year of new carbon fiber materials from several different precursors, including lignin. Lignol recently attended the semi-annual meeting of the Consortium in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which examined market development for carbon fiber composites and reviewed progress on the ORNL carbon fiber programs, including the CFTC.

"We are delighted to have been invited to join the Oak Ridge Carbon Fiber Composites Consortium and are truly impressed with the caliber and diversity of the membership that ORNL has attracted to the consortium," said Lignol's President and Chief Executive Officer, Ross MacLachlan. "The recent meeting was extremely valuable for us to make contact with players in this developing industry sector and to discuss our progress in Lignin-Carbon Fiber development with many of them. We were gratified with the depth of interest that we received in our HP-L™ lignin among members."

Lignol is engaged in a wide range of application development projects incorporating its proprietary HP-L™ lignin into many core products of the chemical industry, such as coatings, resins, composite materials and thermoplastics. As well as developing some very promising applications, this work has resulted in a significant and robust intellectual property portfolio relating to composition of matter, structure and function of lignin, independent of the process used to produce it. One key area of development is the use of HP-L lignin as a raw material for carbon fiber manufacture, an application which shows great technical promise with large-scale commercial potential. The unique physical and chemical characteristics of HP-L lignin have proven advantageous in carbon fiber manufacture compared with many other lignins. Lignol has been working on Lignin-Carbon Fiber with a number of groups around the world, including universities, research institutes, such as ORNL, auto-makers and specialized materials manufacturers. Over a number of years Lignol has been supplying researchers with development samples of HP-L lignin and more recently, with tonnage quantities for larger scale production trials.

About Lignol

Lignol (TSXV: LEC) is a Canadian company undertaking the development of biorefining technologies for the production of advanced biofuels, including fuel-grade ethanol, and other renewable chemicals from non-food cellulosic biomass feedstocks. Lignol's modified solvent based pre-treatment technology facilitates the rapid, high-yield conversion of cellulose to ethanol and the production of value-added biochemical co-products, including high purity HP-L™ lignins. HP-L^TM lignin represents a new class of high purity lignin extractives (and their subsequent derivatives) which can be engineered to meet the chemical properties and functional requirements of a range of industrial applications that until now has not been possible with traditional lignin by-products generated from other processes. Lignol is executing on its development plan through strategic partnerships to further develop and integrate its core technologies on a commercial scale. Lignol also intends to invest in, or otherwise obtain, equity interests in energy related projects which have synergies with its biorefining technology. For more information please visit www.lignol.ca.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Caution concerning forward-looking statements:

Certain statements contained in this document may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements or information include, without limitation, statements or information about our ability to continue as a going concern and to raise additional financing to fund operations, our ability to work with CIBC and Capital West to consider a range of sources of investment, including industry and financial investors who have a strategic, long term interest in advanced biofuels, renewable chemicals and forest industry transformation, our ability to supply lignin to the Oak Ridge Carbon Fiber Composites Consortium and for its members to develop and commercialize new carbon fiber and composite materials, the development status of our fully integrated pilot-scale biorefinery in Burnaby, British Columbia, the planning and development of a proposed commercial plant, our ability to complete project deliverables which are funded in part by government agencies, our ability to exploit commercial opportunities and broaden our market opportunities for a range of cellulosic derivatives and environmentally sustainable biochemicals including our HP-L™ lignin and lignin derivatives, our ability to produce HP-L™ lignin that meets agreed customer specifications at commercial scale, and our ability to pursue these opportunities with strategic partners including establishing off-take agreements for our products, our ability to develop high value cellulose applications and obtaining strategic partnership investments and government funding for initial commercial projects. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements or information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or words and phrases that state or indicate that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements or information reflect Lignol's current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions including, without limitation, our ability to establish the validity of our technology at the fully integrated biorefinery pilot plant scale, our ability to satisfy the conditions of existing government grants and to obtain new additional grants, our ability to continue to finance our operations and to finance and complete the development of a commercial project, our ability to develop commercial applications for our products including HP-L™ lignin, and to obtain off-take agreements, our ability to obtain requisite regulatory approvals and our ability to enter into agreements with strategic partners on terms acceptable to us. Many factors could cause Lignol's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information, including among other things, the technological challenges that remain to be surpassed in obtaining the necessary operating data from our fully integrated biorefinery pilot plant that is required prior to completing the next scale-up of the technology, financial market conditions which will impact our ability to finance our operations and to finance the construction and operation of a commercial plant, the price of gasoline and demand for ethanol, the market pricing and demand for renewable chemicals, risks relating to the protection of Lignol's core technology from infringement and those risk factors which are discussed elsewhere in documents that Lignol files from time to time with securities regulatory authorities. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements or information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Except as required by law, the Company expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements and information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All written and oral forward-looking statements and information attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the foregoing cautionary statements.

Lignol Energy Corporation
David Turner
Chief Financial Officer
Tel: [phone]
Email: [email protected]