Nation’s first renewable diesel plant has a new owner

Source: Amanda Peterka, E&E reporter • Posted: Tuesday, June 10, 2014

The nation’s largest biodiesel producer announced the acquisition today of Dynamic Fuels LLC, which operates the first U.S. large-scale renewable diesel facility.

Renewable Energy Group Inc. closed on deals to acquire the shares of Tyson Foods Inc. and Syntroleum Corp., which formed Dynamic in 2007 as a 50-50 joint venture. The facility will now be known as REG Geismar LLC, named for the Louisiana town in which it is located.REG President and CEO Daniel Oh said that the acquisition of the facility enables the company’s entry into the renewable diesel market.

“We look forward to bringing the Geismar biorefinery online and work to do so has begun,” Oh said in a statement.

REG on Tuesday announced that it closed on its acquisition of Syntroleum and all of its assets, including the 50 percent share in the Dynamic Fuels facility. The biodiesel company today said it closed on the Tyson deal, paying the agribusiness corporation $16.5 million in cash for the its 50 percent share and retiring about $13.5 million of Dynamic Fuels’ indebtedness to Tyson (Greenwire, May 21).

The facility in southeast Louisiana is capable of producing 75 million gallons a year of renewable diesel made from animal byproducts that can be used directly in existing fuel infrastructure, as opposed to biodiesel, which must be blended with petroleum diesel.

While the plant is complete, operations were idled in late 2012 for maintenance and upgrades; according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, the plant remained idle throughout all of last year.

As of the end of fiscal 2013, the plant had incurred net operating losses of approximately $38 million.

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