Governors' Biofuels Coalition

A subsidiary of the nation’s largest biodiesel producer has purchased equipment from bankrupt cellulosic biofuels maker KiOR Inc.

REG Synthetic Fuels LLC, a subsidiary of Renewable Energy Group Inc., paid $1.5 million to acquire physical assets from KiOR’s defunct facility in Columbus, Miss. Among the assets: a 12-million-gallon hydrotreating unit and associated equipment.

“These are quality assets we were able to purchase for a very good value,” said Brad Albin, vice president of manufacturing at REG. “We plan to relocate and utilize the equipment for future advanced biofuel or renewable chemical projects.”

Cellulosic biofuels are made from plant-based materials such as agricultural residues, grasses, trees and municipal solid waste. Backed by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, KiOR launched in 2007 and was initially considered a major success story for the cellulosic industry.

The company completed construction on its plant in Columbus in 2012 and produced the nation’s first-ever commercial quantities of cellulosic gasoline and diesel.

But the company was never able to get the plant to run at full capacity and filed for bankruptcy last year (Greenwire, March 21, 2014).

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