Ineos Bio, New Planet Energy JV closes USDA guaranteed loan for bioenergy project

Aug 19, 2011 - Ineos New Planet BioEnergy, a joint venture of UK biofuels tech firm Ineos Bio and US New Planet Energy, has closed USD 75 million (EUR 52.4m) in privately financed loan guaranteed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a bioenergy project.

The Indian River BioEnergy Centre located in Florida will have a bioethanol production capacity of eight million gallons (24,000 tonnes) a year and electricity generation capacity of 6 MW, enough to supply 1,400 households a year, from local yard, vegetable and household wastes, Ineos Bio said in a statement yesterday. The project will utilize Ineos Bio's BioEnergy technology that uses a combination of gasification and fermentation process to produce biofuel and electricity from various types of waste materials.

The bioenergy centre is under construction and will be completed by the end of April 2012.

The financing covers the required amount to complete the project and will be used for equipment, engineering and construction.

According to Ineos Bio, the bioenergy centre is the first US large-scale advanced bioenergy project to close its financing in the latest round of the USDA programme to commercialize biorefinery technology, and will be one of the first projects in the US to produce cellulosic biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Ineos Bio is a subsidiary of UK-based diversified chemicals producer Ineos Group.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.699)

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