Terra Bioenergy Holds Groundbreaking for New Missouri Biodiesel Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Biodiesel start-up Terra Bioenergy LLC (Liberty, Missouri) held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday to mark the official start of construction of its new biodiesel plant in Saint Joseph, Missouri. Dirt work and site preparation began on the project in early June, but bad weather that has been plaguing the area in recent weeks has slowed construction activities.

Plans call for the initial construction of a 15 million-gallon-per-year biodiesel plant that will be expandable to 30 million gallons per year as market conditions for the product improve. The plant will utilize Desmet Ballestra (Milano, Italy) process technology and is being built by Performance Group Incorporated (Greenville, South Carolina).

The plant is located on a 13-acre site near the Mississippi River on Stockyards Expressway near the Triumph Foods pork processing plant in Saint Joseph. The plant will utilize animal fats from the large pork processing operation as feedstock and receive soybean oils from nearby Ag Processing soybean refinery.

Construction of the estimated $20 million plant is expected to take six months to complete, and the facility will come online during the first quarter of 2009.

Currently, there are six biodiesel plants operating in Missouri that produce a combined 110 million gallons per year of the renewable fuel. Mid America Biofuels in Mexico, Missouri (30 mm gal/yr); Paseo in Kansas City, Missouri (37 mm gal/yr); Global Fuels in Dexter (3 mm gal/yr); AG Processing in Saint Joseph (30 mm gal/yr) Great Rivers Soy in Lilbourn (5 mm gal/yr) and High Hill Biodiesel in High Hill (5 mm gal/yr).

Industrial Info's Ethanol Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging alternative fuels market. This database covers 156 ethanol plants in operation and 530 plants under development. It also covers 98 operational biodiesel plants and 245 biodiesel plants under development.

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