Kudzunol of Agro*Gas Industries, LLC

Kudzu Sunset Background Courtesy of Max Shores..Kudzu a brief video clipPress ReleaseDateline: Cleveland, TennesseeA Cleveland entrepreneur may be making history as well as making “legal moonshine”. Doug Mizell, a local locksmith has been tinkering with projects and gadgets for most of his 54 years. But in 2000 he struck on an idea that just might make a major impact on the alternative fuel industry. While clearing some vacation property at Lake Enid, Mississippi, Mizell became aware of the curious properties of the weed Kudzu. Initial tests showed the plant was very high in sugars and starches which accounts for its phenomenal growth rate. (up to a foot a day or sixty feet a season) High concentrations of sugars and starches made kudzu a great candidate as a feedstock for making fuel grade ethanol. The next few years he set about researching and collecting data to see if a kudzu fuel would be commercially viable. When all the facts were assimilated, he concluded a fuel was not only possible but very practical . Refining a fuel from kudzu would not compete with food grains for feedstock, and a bi-product of a kudzu fuel will yield a high protein poultry or livestock feed. There is 7.2 million acres of Kudzu that blight the southern countryside, it chokes the growth of trees and competes for range and farm land. Thus, the conversion of Kudzu to kudZunol was conceived. Doug has spent most 2006 and all of this year perfecting the harvesting, fermentation and refining processes of his kudZunol. A limited production run of his ethanol is already running many test engines and a “Test Vehicle” will soon be seen on the streets of Cleveland and Bradley county. “Up to now I’ve been an army of one. Stage 2 will involve some capitol investment.” Mizell says. He plans to form a team of civic and financial leaders in east Tennessee to jumpstart interest in building an alternative fuels refinery here to produce ethanol and bio-diesel. He postulates it would be an economic boon to the region and another step to the energy independence of this nation.“Alternative fuels will be as big as the computer industry’s explosive expansion in the 80s and 90s. I want east Tennessee to be in the center of that storm of technology.” - Doug Mizell“The fuel of the future is going to come from fruit like that sumac out by the road, or from apples, weeds, sawdust – almost anything, “ he said Henry Ford to a New York Times reporter in 1925For more information contact:kudZunol c/o Doug Mizell 5430 Harper St NW Cleveland, Tennessee 37312 423 716-4357kudZunol “The All-American Fuel”How it HappenedMy name is Doug Mizell. Sometime in September 2000 I hit upon a plan to distill a fuel grade ethanol from the Kudzu plant. I had some property at Lake Enid Mississippi where I waged a some what futile battle with Kudzu for a number of years. After a few years of war with it, I became quite fascinated with the plant. It had resisted all attempts to kill it off, and it grew at an amazing rate. I postulated that anything that grew that quickly and was that hardy could not be all bad, but for the life of me I could find no use for it. The nineties came and went and with it there arose the energy crisis. I like every one I knew had been greatly affected by the long gas lines and then the gas prices that never seem to find a ceiling. My natural curiosity prodded me to find ways to free myself from this energy problem. I figured that if someone doesn’t fix it. It will never go away. With that in mind I started looking into alternative energy solutions. I studied solar, wind, and water power. Then I stumbled on an article about Ethanol and how it could be made from renewable grain crops and that it could possibly free us from our dependence on foreign oil and its dwindling supply. I read magazines, read books, searched the net and found countless accounts of ethanol fuel being distilled from corn to rice, to refuse. This seemed to be the direction I wanted to take. My next step was to choose what feeder stock I wanted to make ethanol from. Corn, soybean, potatoes, sugar cane, sugar beets, and rice were all obvious choices. But I foresaw one problem with all of them. They were foods for man and animals. Another supply and demand issue with any of these food commodities would eventually drive the price up on what I would be using to make my ethanol. Making me have to constantly have to raise and lower my price depending on the price of my feeder stock. This did not look to be a solution to inflationary fuel prices to me. I set about to find other feeder stock not tied to the grain or food markets.I knew all I had to do was to find a plant high in sugars and starches that I could make into a mash and distill ethanol from. .Then it hit me like a brick in the back of the head. Photosynthesis, That process that caused plants to use sunlight to make them grow. (Special thanks to my science teacher at Arnold Jr high, Mrs Glass, for making this epiphany possible) Plants that were good at this were high in sugar and starches. Duh, guess what plant I knew that was good at photosynthesis? Yep, quite possibly the fastest growing weed on the planet, Kudzu!I sprang into action, I went to the web and found out as much as I could on this “noxious weed”. I was sure I was on the right track. I acquired materials and equipment to build a still. I enlisted the help of a friend and partner to help me fabricate a still. Then the air went out of the project. The friend and partner never built the still and my dream died on the vine.Six years have passed, and like the hardy Kudzu, my dream grows again. The still is built, the tests are on going and kudZunol is a reality. I can only hope that the “son of Kudzu” can be as successful at spreading through the south as his mother was.dougkudZunol “The All-American Fuel” Here’s why kudZunol ?A finite oil supply and the volatile Mid-East will always make GASOLINE prices unstable and inflationary.A renewable alternative fuel that will reduce our dependency on foreign oil will be extremely popular with the government and they will make your case to the people.Any alternative fuel NOT using FOOD or FEED GRAINS will NOT be subject to price pressures in the Commodity and Futures Markets.Early indications are that kudZunol can be produced at a significantly lower cost per gallon. (harvesting a weed crop that you are given or in some instances paid to collect is much cheaper than exploring, drilling and transporting oil.) I don’t see why we could not even undersell all other Ethanol Producers. This fact alone will make us extremely attractive to discount fuel vendors.There is 7 million acres of unwanted Kudzu in the Southeastern US. A single crop of Kudzu will produce 2 harvests in one growing season. (This plant can grow a foot a day, up to 60 feet a season) In 1997 it was placed on the Noxious Weed list and the US Ag Dept has spent hundreds of millions trying to keep it in check. They would welcome and pay someone to help stop the unbridled spread of this weed that blights the south.The bi-products from the kudzu distilling processes are :A high vitamin, protein rich silage (called DDG or Distillers Dried Grain) That can be sold to hog and cattle producers to reduce their dependence on grains they will be competing with ethanol producer and human food markets for.CO2 is a bi-product of the fermentation process. It can be sold to make dry-ice and propellants.The steam and hot water from the distilling process are being used by our new highly efficient Continuous Feed Refineries to generate their own electricity.Government incentives, Grants, and Loans will finance the building of Refineries, transport fleets, and the development of specialized harvest equipment.Cheap, clean, renewable, alternative energy is the wave of the future. It is an industry that will be inflation free and market proof. No matter what the Economy or the Geo-Political Climate may be. In the next few years this industry will show growth off the Charts.