In particular, Tate worked with an extension agent at Ohio State University, who has developed a laboratory bench process for testing slug control products. The active ingredient is organic and on the U.S. EPA's low risk 23B list; the DDS is a sustained release carrier that is organic qualified. “If you spray our active ingredient as a liquid it works great,” he says. “It drives all the slugs out of your garden and off your plants. The first time it rains or you go out there and water your garden, the stuff is washed off. This is the case with many organic pest control products. They have a very short environmental half-life.”

Tate says that using DDS as a sustained carrier in a biodegradable pellet allows the product to hold together longer and release the active ingredient into the environment as the material breaks down.

J. Jireh Holdings has also worked with a partner to develop DDS BioComposite, a biorenewable additive that can be added to thermoplastics and thermoplastic processing and can act as an effective filler. “We have put it in extrusion applications at rates of up to 50 percent, so 50 percent DDS BioComposite and 50 percent some other kind of thermoplastic, and we get some very interesting results. I’m not sure if they are commercially viable but we’ve gotten some very interesting results at those high inclusion rates,” Tate says.

Because of the chemistry and unique formulation of the DDS BioComposite, researchers have found that by adding DDS BioComposite as a processing aid to these kinds of plastic conversions, energy requirements for the plastic processing were reduced as well as the temperature at which the plastic melted and became flowable.

“We also found that under the right conditions this material will produce a microcellular foam,” Tate says. “It reduces the amount of material required to fill a mold and is extremely compatible with a broad-range of thermoplastics.”

Patents are pending on these applications, for which J. Jireh Holdings has developed proof-of-concept demonstration projects. The company is now seeking a marketing partner to work with them in turning these products into commercial reality.

“We have good intellectual property on all of this and have a trademark registered for DDS,” Tate says. “We have a facility in Payson, Ariz., where we have the capacity to produce up to eight tons [of DDS] per week.”

Depending on what is put into the feed tanks, Tate says one can get a variety of products – from a custom-formulated feed, a sustained-release pest control product or a biorenewable thermoplastics processing aid. “I don’t have to set up a separate factory to make each one of those things because of the way our pulse combustion dryer is capable of handling a variety of feeds. And that’s significantly different than what goes on at most ethanol plants.”

J. Jireh Holdings is currently in conversations with three different ethanol business players, discussing setting up a demonstration project, according to Tate. “Right now we are focused on where the large volume stream of solubles is coming from – and that is really from the dry corn ethanol plants,” he says. “The idea is to install a dryer at an ethanol facility that has a production capacity of about 25 tons per day. In the big scheme of things, that’s a fairly small production stream. On the other hand, it is enough so that we can start priming the market and getting this material out there.”

Hope Deutscher is an Ethanol Producer Magazine associate editor. Reach her at hdeutscher@bbiinternational.com or (701) 373-8046.

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