Biofuel technology specialist Whitefox Technologies has confirmed it is planning a $10m to $15m funding round as it seeks to accelerate the deployment of a unique membrane system that promises to slash the cost of ethanol production and break into the booming US and Brazilian markets.

The London-based firm has already deployed its technology in a number of commercial-scale ethanol plants around the world, posting revenues of around €20m since 2006, and securing another major $500,000 deal this week from an unnamed Canadian facility.

However, according to business development director Trond Heggenhougen there is now a “window of opportunity” for the company to scale up and significantly accelerate its global expansion.

“We have $20m of potential deals in the pipeline and are taking two to three sales inquiries a week,” he said. “Now is the right time to raise capital to accelerate deployment and move into new markets… The US produces 14 billion gallons a year of ethanol and Brazil produces eight billion. They are the dominant markets in a $55bn global market that is expected to double by 2020.”

The company is in San Francisco this week presenting to venture capitalists as part of the UK’s Clean and Cool Mission, with a view to using any new capital to expand its 16-strong team and bring on board more chemical engineers and an expanded sales team.

Whitefox’s technology uses an innovative membrane to replace the molecular sieve units (MSU) or chemical extraction techniques currently used in the distillation and dehydration processes required to separate ethanol from water.

According to Heggenhougen the approach has been shown to increase production capacity for ethanol plants by between 50 per cent and 78 per cent, and reduce water and energy use by up to 50 per cent.

“The MSU technique is a batch approach, but our membrane is a continuous approach, which immediately improves efficiency significantly,” he explained, adding that the technology can also create biogas as a by-product that can be used for co-generation.

Significantly, as the technology is deployed after the fermentation process it can be used with any ethanol feedstock, meaning that it can be deployed with more sustainable second-generation ethanol technologies that are designed to produce biofuel from non-food crops or waste materials.

In addition, Heggenhougen argued that the system has the potential to reduce the cost of ethanol, making it more competitive with conventional fuels.

“The system delivers very quick payback for customers,” he said. “It is up to them whether they pass on the savings, but in the long term if biofuels want to be competitive with gasoline the industry needs to reduce costs, and become more efficient and less reliant on subsidy.”