Good news for the cellulosic ethanol industry in the USA.
VERBIO North America Corporation, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA, a 51% subsidiary of VERBIO Vereinigte BioEnergie AG, has signed a contract yesterday with DuPont to purchase its cellulosic ethanol plant in Nevada, Iowa, USA. The purchase includes about 100,000 tons of baled corn stalks, which is located at multiple sites within a 50 kilometer radius the plant. The ethanol plant has a capacity for processing 300,000 tons of corn stalks to approximately 115,000 cubic meters of ethanol. Closing is expected by year-end 2018.
In the first phase planned expansion, VERBIO will supplement the existing facility by constructing a straw bio-methane plant with a thermal output of approximately 20 megawatts. Additional investment costs, taking into account existing infrastructure and usable plant components, are expected to amount to approximately $25-35 million. VERBIO said it plans to start construction of the renewable natural gas operation in the spring of 2019 and begin commercial production of renewable transportation fuel by summer 2020.
This transaction allows VERBIO to enter the US biofuels market with its straw bio-methane technology. According to VERBIO, there are good opportunities for growth in the viable US market for renewable natural gas (RNG). The project costs will be financed by using VERBIO AG’s freely available cash and internal cash flow.
VERBIO claims to be the only large industrial producer of biodiesel, bioethanol and biomethane in Europe. Its production capacity is at a rounded 470,000 tons biodiesel, 260,000 tons bioethanol and 600 gigawatt hours bio-methane per year. The biofuels of VERBIO achieve CO2 reductions of up to 90% compared to petrol or diesel. VERBIO delivers its products directly to the European mineral oil conglomerates, mineral oil trading companies, independent gas stations, freight forwarders, municipal utilities and vehicle fleets.
In addition, VERBIO also markets high-quality pharma glycerine for the consumer goods and cosmetics industry (glycerine is gained as a by-product in biodiesel production). The operative business is exercised by VERBIO Diesel Bitterfeld GmbH, VERBIO Diesel Schwedt GmbH, VERBIO Ethanol Schwedt GmbH & Co.KG, VERBIO Ethanol Zörbig GmbH & Co. KG and VERBIO Agrar GmbH.
Speaking of bio-methane, Iogen (another cellulosic ethanol technology developer) presented at the ABLC Global 2018 conference in San Francisco yesterday the growing opportunity for renewable natural gas and bio-methane in the US. Iogen’s cellulosic ethanol process produces bio-gas as a by-product. Biogas is said to be an excellent feedstock for transportation fuel as compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) , or for conversion to higher value fuels such as renewable hydrogen (“RH”), methanol, DME, Fischer-Tropsch Diesel, or renewable gasoline.
Total US production of biogas, according to Iogen, is already equivalent to 10% of American’s gasoline consumption. Landfills are currently the largest source of bio-methane in the USA followed by wastewater and manure.
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