Biofuels firm to invest $500m in five Mississippi plants

August 27, 2010

Texan biofuels company KiOR has announced plans to develop five biofuel production facilities in the state of Mississippi.

The $500 million investment looks set to create “at least” 1,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state, according to Governor Haley Barbour.

KiOR, which has its HQ in Pasadena, Texas, along with a pilot plant and demonstration-scale facility currently producing around 15 barrels per day of a renewable crude oil dubbed “Re-Crude”.

It uses a catalytic conversion technology to turn various feedstocks into Re-Crude, feedstocks that could include anything from woody biomass to agricultural waste.

The company states that its Re-Crude can then be refined into transportation fuels using existing oil refinery infrastructure.

It has already selected sites in Columbus and Newton, Mississippi, for its first full-scale production plants, and has decided its third will be located in southwest Mississippi.

KiOR is in talks with local communities around the state regarding locations for two further plants.

Announcing the project this week, Governor Barbour said: “KiOR will use Mississippi’s abundant, renewable natural resources to create a high-quality crude oil substitute that will help meet our nation’s energy needs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and create more than one thousand jobs for Mississippi workers.”

Assistance

Gov Barbour is hoping the State Legislature will draw up an assistance package to support the project, suggesting that it would provide opportunities for Mississippi forestry workers and farmers as well as those directly employed in the biofuels operations.

KiOR has been developing its catalysis process since it was founded in 2007. It involves use of a process similar to Fluid Catalytic Cracking, used in oil refineries to produce gasoline from crude oil.

The process involves heating of the biomass within a pressurized reactor to produce an oil in a reaction that is accelerated by the use of a catalyst – a fine powder that speeds up chemical reactions without itself being consumed in the reaction.

By-products from the reaction can then be used to help provide energy for the process itself.

Fred Cannon, president and chief executive officer of KiOR said of the project: “These facilities will bring high quality jobs to the area, help our country reduce its dependence on foreign oil and position the state as a leader in the production of domestically sourced biofuels.”