INEOS Bio JV Closes $75m in Private Financing Under USDA Loan Guarantee Program for Advanced BioEnergy Center in Florida

VERO BEACH, Fla., Aug. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

• INEOS Bio announced that its joint venture project closed private financing on a $75m loan backed by a Loan Guarantee from the USDA for its new Indian River BioEnergy Center located near Vero Beach, Florida.
• Slated to start production in 2nd Quarter 2012, the BioEnergy Center will produce eight million gallons of bioethanol and six megawatts (gross) of renewable power annually from local yard, vegetative and household wastes.
• "We want to commend the USDA on its partnership with us in advancing this bioenergy technology and making it commercially available," said Peter Williams, CEO of INEOS Bio and Chairman of INEOS New Planet BioEnergy.

Today INEOS Bio announced that its joint-venture project, INEOS New Planet BioEnergy (INPB) has finalized $75 million in private financing utilizing the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loan guarantee program for its new Indian River BioEnergy Center located in Florida.  This is the first large-scale advanced bioenergy project in the United States to finalize its financing in the latest round under the USDA government program to commercialize biorefinery technology.  The financing concludes all necessary funding to complete the project and will be used for equipment, engineering and construction of the BioEnergy Center.  The BioEnergy Center, located near Vero Beach, Florida, is a commercial scale project that will produce eight million gallons (24kta) of advanced biofuels and six megawatts (gross) of renewable power annually from renewable biomass including local yard, vegetative and household wastes.

"We want to commend the USDA on its partnership with us in advancing this bioenergy technology and making it commercially available," said Peter Williams, CEO of INEOS Bio and Chairman of INEOS New Planet BioEnergy. "The Vero Beach BioEnergy Center is the first of its kind in the world and provides a template for a technology that can make a real contribution to energy independence and job creation, while also reducing green house gas emissions and diverting wastes from landfill and lower value uses."

The project will use INEOS Bio's feedstock-flexible BioEnergy technology, which uses a unique combination of gasification and fermentation technology to turn different types of waste materials – including municipal solid waste -- into advanced biofuels and renewable power.  When completed, the project is slated to be one of the first projects in the U.S. to produce advanced cellulosic biofuels under the new Renewable Fuel Standard and provide renewable power for 1400 homes in the area.

The financing for the project includes a $75 million privately financed loan backed by a guarantee from the USDA through its 9003 Biorefinery Assistance program.  Construction is already approximately 20 percent complete at the BioEnergy Center, and will be completed by end April 2012. Over 85 percent of the equipment for the project is being supplied by manufacturers in the U.S., creating or retaining jobs in the cleantech industrial sector.  The project is also utilizing local companies for construction and other services, specifically recruiting at the NASA Space Center, where the recently concluded Shuttle Program has laid off thousands of skilled workers.  In total, the BioEnergy Center will provide 380 direct and indirect jobs (including 200 construction jobs) over the next year and 50 full-time jobs when the facility is operational.

As the first plant in the world to use INEOS Bio's advanced bioenergy technology, the BioEnergy Center will serve as a reference plant demonstrating the economic conversion of a variety of different biomass feedstocks into advanced biofuel and renewable power at full commercial scale.  To meet the U.S. Government's goal of replicating the technology, INEOS Bio will enter into licensing agreements with third parties to build similar commercial bioenergy plants to supply advanced bioethanol and renewable electricity around the U.S. and the world.

A 3D Image of the Indian River BioEnergy Center and a photo from USDA Secretary Vilsack's recent visit to the BioEnergy Center are available.

INEOS New Planet BioEnergy (INPB) is a joint venture between INEOS Bio and New Planet Energy. With strong support from the USDA, DOE and the State of Florida, INPB is building the Indian River BioEnergy Center and laying the foundation for full commercial-scale development of the biorefining industry in the United States. In 2009, the project was awarded a $50 million cost matching grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and a $2.5 million dollar cost matching grant from the State of Florida.  The BioEnergy Center is part of the ongoing public-private sector effort to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, spur the creation of the domestic biorefining industry and provide new cleantech jobs throughout the country. 

INEOS Bio is a BioEnergy company commercializing and licensing its highly innovative thermo-chemical and bio-chemical technology for the production of renewable biofuels and renewable energy from a wide range of low-cost carbon materials. The company's initial focus is the commercialization of the world's leading third-generation ethanol technology process to serve the global renewable fuels and the renewable energy markets. INEOS Bio is one of the global businesses in INEOS.  For more information, visit www.ineosbio.com.  

INEOS is the world's fourth largest chemicals group and a leading manufacturer of petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and oil products. As of the end of 2010 it operates 15 businesses and with a production network spanning 61 manufacturing facilities in 13 countries, the group produces more than 40 million tonnes of petrochemicals and 20 million tonnes per annum of crude oil refined products (fuels) each year. INEOS employs 15,000 people globally including over 3000 people in the United States.  It has annual sales of around $40bn. For more information visit www.ineos.com.

New Planet Energy is a project development company engaged in the development and implementation of advanced biofuels and energy projects. For more information, visit www.newplanetenergy.com.

SOURCE INEOS Bio