USA BioEnergy, through its subsidiary Texas Renewable Fuels (TRF), announced a project to build an advanced biorefinery in Bon Wier, Texas. The new plant will convert 1 million green tons of wood waste into 34 million gallons per year of premium, clean burning transportation fuel including Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Renewable Diesel and Renewable Naphtha.
"USA BioEnergy performed an extensive site search and analysis to identify the best location for our project. State and local incentives then became the key component of our decision and we're proud to select Bon Wier," said Nick Andrews, CEO of USA BioEnergy. "Our investment in Newton County will exceed $3.4 billion and will provide significant opportunities for employment."
Nancy Windham, President & CEO of Texas Forest Country Partnership, commented, "The Texas Forest Country Partnership congratulates Texas Renewable Fuels and Newton County on the announcement of a $1.3 billion advanced biorefinery plant in Bon Wier. The addition of the new business and facility will supply the growing market for sustainable and renewable fuels, create 142 new jobs at completion and generate an estimated direct construction payroll of $219 million."
USA BioEnergy said future expansion will double the plant's production capacity to 68 million gallons per year.
In addition, the company has secured fuel offtake agreements with a major trading and logistics company as well as one of the world's premier airlines and will announce its partners and suppliers in greater detail in the coming months.
According to USA BioEnergy, the biorefinery's demand for thinnings and wood waste will infuse the forestry industry in the Southeast Texas region with stable long-term revenue. The plant will also capture and sequester approximately 50 million metric tons of CO2 over the life of the biorefinery.
Dr. Robert Freerks, Vice President of Product Development for USA BioEnergy, explained, "Biomass gasification is a well-established method of converting any waste stream into synthesis gas which can readily be converted into hydrocarbon fuels by the Fischer-Tropsch process and upgrading technologies. This approach is being used by a number of projects as it is more feedstock efficient than processes such as cellulosic ethanol production which cannot use all the carbon in wood and waste feedstocks.
"The gasification/F-T process is also easily adaptable to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) as removal of CO2 from the process stream is inherent to the basic technology set. Thus, using biomass feedstocks with CCS, USA Bioenergy can produce deeply negative CI fuels which meet all customer requirements.
"The fuels produced using CCS will have at least 3 times greater reduction in GHG emissions than fuels produced using other types of feedstock. And there is vastly more feedstock available for expansion of this technology than there is for other renewable fuel production processes," Dr. Freerks concluded.
USA BioEnergy expects project completion in late 2025.
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