Sep 24 2010
Gevo, Inc., a privately held renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, announced today the closing of its acquisition of Agri-Energy’s ethanol production facility in Luverne, Minnesota.
This plant is expected to provide 18 million gallons per year (MGPY) of production capacity for chemicals and fuels customers.
Engineering for the mechanical retrofitting of the plant has begun and isobutanol production is expected to begin early in 2012. During most of the retrofit process, it is expected that the facility will continue to produce and sell ethanol.
Gevo has developed a proprietary process designed to fit into current ethanol production facilities. The process also enables the production of isobutanol from numerous renewable feedstocks including corn, wheat, sorghum, barley, sugar cane and cellulosic feedstocks when biomass conversion becomes commercially available. Gevo’s integrated fermentation technology (GIFT™) platform consists of two components: a yeast biocatalyst and a separations technology unit that bolts into existing ethanol plants.