INEOS Bio gets $75 Million USDA Loan Guarantee

INEOS Bio and its partner New Planet Energy have had a loan guarantee from the US Department of Agriculture for $75 million, this money will be used to build a new bioenergy centre.

CEO of INEOS Bio and Chairman of INEOS New Planet BioEnergy, Peter Williams:

“We are encouraged by the continued confidence and commitment the U.S. Government has shown in assisting with the commercial development of this new bioenergy technology. These programs are providing the funds needed to enable the U.S. to achieve a leading position in the bioenergy sector through projects such as ours. 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.”

The new bioenergy centre will be used to produce 8 million gallons of second generation bioethanol a year and 6 megawatts of energy from waste biomass rather than from crops. One of the key technologies to be used in the bioenergy centre is INEOS bio’s anaerobic fermentation step, which converts syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) produced from biomass to ethanol. This process is flexible; it can use many different bio-feedstocks which makes it useful for processing variable waste. Construction of the new centre has begun with the aim to begin production by 2012.

The loan guarantee is part of the USDA 9003 Biorefinery Assistance Program, which guarantees loans for companies developing and constructing biorefineries, or for modifying refineries to allow bioenergy production.