Ineos Bio and its joint venture partner, New Planet Energy, announced they have received a conditional commitment for a $75 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program.
Funds will be used for the construction of a waste-to-bioenergy facility near Vero Beach, Florida. The BioEnergy Center is expected produce eight million gallons (24,000 tons) of advanced biofuel per year together with six megawatts (MW) of renewable power from biomass including yard, vegetative and wood wastes and municipal solid waste.
"As well as directly assisting construction of the Ineos New Planet BioEnergy commercial plant, the loan guarantee also represents an important step along the road to replication of this exciting new technology through Ineos Bio’s licensing program,” said Peter Williams, CEO of Ineos Bio and Chairman of Ineos
Site preparation and construction are underway at the BioEnergy Center, which has created 55 new jobs to date. The BioEnergy Center, slated to begin production in 2012, is anticipated to provide 175 jobs during construction and 50 full-time renewable energy jobs once the facility is completed.
The heart of the Ineos Bio technology is a patented anaerobic fermentation step, through which naturally occurring bacteria convert gases derived directly from biomass into ethanol. Unlike other technologies that rely on one primary source of feedstock, the Ineos Bio process can produce ethanol and renewable energy from numerous feedstocks, including construction waste, municipal solid waste and forestry and agricultural waste, while breaking the link between food crops and ethanol production.
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