KiOR Opens Commercial-Scale Biofuel Plant in Mississippi

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Biofuels startup KiOR Incorporated (NASDAQ:KIOR) (Pasadena, Texas) has completed development of its commercial-scale biofuel plant, located in Columbus, Mississippi. The company shipped its first batch of cellulosic diesel in mid-March.

The facility uses pine wood chips, which previously fed a now-shuttered paper mill in Columbus, and produces gasoline and diesel, the first renewable hydrocarbon fuels in the U.S. The gasoline and diesel are manufactured on a commercial scale and derived solely from non-food feedstocks to avoid competition with human food needs.

Unlike traditional biofuels, such as ethanol or biodiesel, KiOR's fuels have no compatibility issues. KiOR's renewable gasoline is also the first renewable cellulosic gasoline to be registered by the Environmental Protection Agency for sale in the U.S.

The plant will be able to produce more than 13 million gallons (49 million liters) of gasoline and diesel a year, once it reaches full capacity in nine to 12 months.

KiOR is already planning to construct a second plant in Adams County, Mississippi, near Natchez. The estimated $260 million plant will be built on the former Belwood Country Club site on River Terminal Road. The county is also going to pitch in $5 million toward the construction of a levee at the site, which floods during high waters.

Construction of the Natchez plant is not scheduled to start until mid-2013 and will take approximately 18 months. The company also has identified two additional future potential plant locations in Meadeville and Greenville, Mississippi.

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