While Molycorp claims trade secrets, Avalon believes its planned refining processes will use standard off the shelf long established procedures.

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Work will involve bio-refining, and developing different processes to turn crops such as rye grass, miscanthus (a perennial grass), oats and artichokes into products ranging from fuels to cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, textiles, bio-plastics, food and health products.

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Lummus Technology, which generated 7.4% of revenues, offers licenses for proprietary processes used in petrochemical processing, refining, performance catalysts, gas processing and heat transfer.

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