Aventine Renewable Acquires Riverland Biofuels Ethanol Plant in Illinois

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Publicly held ethanol company Aventine Renewable Energy Incorporated (NASDAQ:AVRW) (Pekin, Illinois) has acquired the former Riverland Biofuels ethanol plant in Canton, Illinois, for $16.5 million. With the acquisition, the company will be able to produce more than 470 million gallons of fuel ethanol annually.

The plant started production in early 2009 and was shuttered in March of this year. Riverland filed for bankruptcy. The 38 million-gallon-per-year plant utilizes flawed Lurgi GmbH (Frankfort, Germany) technology, and Aventine will have ICM/Fagen re-engineer the facility to run more efficiently.

The company is unclear if rehabilitation of the facility will begin later this winter or wait until next spring. Currently, Aventine is completing construction of new ethanol production facilities in Aurora, Nebraska, and Mount Vernon, Illinois. The 113 million-gallon-per-year Aurora plant is expected to be brought online first, followed by the Mount Vernon facility.

When the Aurora, Mount Vernon and Canton plants are running at full capacity, along with the company's operational plant in Pekin, Aventine will have the capacity to produce more than 433 million gallons of fuel ethanol annually.

Industrial Info's Ethanol Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging alternative fuels market. This database covers 177 ethanol plants in operation and 530 plants under development. It also covers 145 operational biodiesel plants and 245 biodiesel plants under development.

View Plant Profile - 1057779 1070206 1072188 1517066

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. IIR's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.