Aug 11 2010
Gevo, an advanced biofuels and renewable chemicals company, has inked definitive agreements for acquiring the ethanol production facility of Agri-Energy in the location of Luverne in Minnesota for the purpose of producing isobutanol. With the mechanical retrofitting process due to begin soon, the Minnesota plant is expected to deliver 18 million gallons of ethanol annually.
The CEO of Gevo Patrick Gruber mentioned that this transaction represents an important step towards achieving the company’s goal of bringing to the market renewable isobutanol in commercial volumes. The Luverne plant is equipped with a strong operations team. By the beginning of 2012, production of isobutanol is anticipated to start. However, during the retrofit process, the facility is expected to continue producing ethanol.
Gevo’s proprietary process has been designed in such a way as to fit into existing ethanol production plants. The process also helps in isobutanol production from various renewable feedstocks such as sugarcane, barley, wheat, sorghum, corn as well as cellulosic feedstocks. The company’s GIFT (Gevo’s integrated fermentation technology) platform consists of two platforms namely a separations technology and a yeast biocatalyst. Agri-Energy is dedicated towards providing advanced technologies as well as best practices in the ethanol industry.
Source: http://www.gevo.com