Gevo expects US biofuel plant to break even by year end

Jul 29, 2014 - US biofuels and biochemicals company Gevo Inc (NASDAQ:GEVO) expects to break even at its plant in Luverne, Minnesota by end-2014 thanks to the co-production of isobutanol and ethanol.

Gevo started the implementation of the Side-by-Side operational mode (SBS) at the facility in June, having one fermenter dedicated to isobutanol production and three other dedicated to ethanol production. “By running the SBS we have dramatically reduced our cash burn at the plant and we are targeting breakeven at Luverne by year end," CEO Patrick Gruber said in a statement yesterday.

The company said the plant is so far performing as expected, producing isobutanol at initial run rates of tens of thousands of gallons on a monthly basis in a commercial-scale one-million-litre fermenter. Since starting to run SBS, isobutanol yields have increased to over 90% of target based on starch content. Also, the isobutanol batch cash costs were lowered by more than 25% since commencing SBS.

As for ethanol, it is produced at a run rate of about 1.5 million gallons (5.68 million litres) per month, which exceeds prior expectations for 1.25 million gallons. Thus, over USD 3 million (EUR 2.2m) of revenue has been generated.

There was no yeast cross-contamination from either the ethanol or isobutanol systems.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.744)

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