Attis Industries (Milton, Ga., USA) is preparing to build its first commercial-scale biorefinery in Barnesville, Ga.
The company intends to purchase a 32-acre property in Barnesville that is expected to generate about $35 million in annual revenue and contribute 40 direct green collar jobs to the local economy, with plans to increase to more than 100 jobs within two years. The facility will be designed to process and convert 200 dry tpd of biomass into a portfolio of biobased products, including pulp for paper products, sugar for renewable fuel production, melt-flowable lignin for use in plastics applications, and biobased chemicals for use in everyday products.
"The City of Barnesville welcomes
Attis Industries Inc. to our industrial community," Barnesville City Manager David Rose said. "We are proud to be a partner in such innovative technologies and we appreciate their choice to be the first commercial scale biorefinery location in Georgia."
"The synergies with our existing industrial base in Lamar County are appreciated and the addition of this facility creates an opportunity for good quality jobs, which is our mission – creating economic wealth," said Kathy Oxford, executive director of the Barnesville Lamar County Industrial Development Authority. "We look forward to future developments as the company grows."
The company selected Barnesville after evaluating many factors, including feedstock availability, proximity to finished product markets, and economic incentives. Barnesville is centrally located in Georgia with ready access to road and rail distribution, as well as strategic ports in Savannah and Brunswick, Ga., and a major international airport in Atlanta. The site is also closely situated to four colleges, each of which have an array of relevant technical programs producing talent for internships, recruitment, and technology development.
"The city of Barnesville has been fantastic to work with, and we look forward to continuing our relationship well into the future as Attis expands its manufacturing footprint," Jeff Cosman, the company’s CEO said.
The Barnesville facility will bring major advances to the traditional pulping industry in the Southeastern U.S. It will have the capacity to produce more than 30,000 tpy of pulp for sale into conventional pulp and paper markets, and as a feedstock for renewable fuel production. In addition, the company will manufacture 20,000 tpy of a unique, melt flowable form of lignin that makes an ideal candidate for use in various plastics applications such as injection molded parts, composite decking, siding, sheet and films. The company’s lignin can also be used as a direct replacement for fossil fuel-derived raw materials in adhesive applications. The yield and quality of the lignin polymer extracted by Attis surpasses all known commercial biomass processing capabilities, and essentially allows Attis to generate about 50 per cent more revenue per ton of biomass processed than the technologies that preceded it. The new plant will also include finished product manufacturing for selected products.
"The markets for our bioproducts are far reaching," Cosman said. "We’re excited to develop those markets as we work to position ourselves as a leader in the bioeconomy by executing on our vision to build more than 50 biorefineries across the United States over the next 10 years. We remain in conversations with previously announced states for additional facilities, but we’re excited by the Barnesville site selection, and we want to take this opportunity to thank the state of Georgia and city of Barnesville for being such great partners in this process."