Pacific Ethanol Completes Name Change to Alto Ingredients, Inc.

 

Pacific Ethanol, Inc., a leading producer of specialty alcohols and essential ingredients, has changed its corporate name to Alto Ingredients, Inc., effective January 12, 2021. The company’s name change will be reflected on The Nasdaq Stock Market on January 14, 2021, and the company’s stock will begin trading under a new ticker symbol, ALTO, starting February 1, 2021.

CEO Mike Kandris said, “We have chosen our new corporate name and brand to represent our many high-quality products, which our customers incorporate into a range of vital finished goods that touch people’s everyday lives, from cleaning solutions to pharmaceuticals. We are capitalizing on our unique capability to manufacture high-grade alcohols for the food, beverage, health, and ingredients markets, and to process corn into high protein feed, pet food, and renewable fuel. As we move forward under our new Alto Ingredients brand, we remain committed to our goal of delivering the highest levels of integrity, purity, and quality to create value for our customers, partners, and shareholders.”

Gevo Announces Net-Zero 1 Project

Gevo, Inc. announces the concept of Net-Zero Projects for the production of energy dense liquid hydrocarbons using renewable energy and Gevo’s proprietary technology. The concept of a Net-Zero Project is to convert renewable energy (photosynthetic, wind, renewable natural gas, biogas) from a variety of sources into energy dense liquid hydrocarbons, that when burned in traditional engines, have the potential to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across the whole lifecycle of the liquid fuel: from the way carbon is captured from the atmosphere, processed to make liquid fuel products, and including the end use (burning as a fuel for cars, planes, trucks, and ships). Gevo announces that its project currently planned to be constructed at Lake Preston, South Dakota will be the first Net-Zero Project and will be named “Net-Zero 1.” Gevo expects that Net-Zero 1 would have the capability to produce liquid hydrocarbons that when burned have a “net-zero” greenhouse gas footprint.

Net-Zero 1 is currently expected to have a capacity of 45MGPY of hydrocarbons (for gasoline and jet fuel, based on current take-or-pay contracts), to produce more than 350,000,000 pounds per year of high protein feed products for use in the food chain, to produce enough renewable natural gas to be self-sufficient for the production process needs, and also to generate renewable electricity with a combined heat and power system. Net-Zero 1 is also expected to utilize wind energy.

Because of the low-carbon footprint feedstocks, the sustainable agricultural practices used to produce feedstock, and the use of renewable energy for the production processes, much of which is expected to be generated on-site, the hydrocarbon fuel products produced at Net-Zero 1 have the potential to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as measured across the whole of the lifecycle based on Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model, the pre-eminent science-based lifecycle analysis model. The GREET model takes into account emissions and impacts "cradle to cradle" for renewable resource-based fuels including: inputs and generation of raw materials, agriculture practices, chemicals used in production processes of both feedstocks and products, energy sources used in production and transportation, and end fate of products, which for fuel products is usually burning to release energy.

The capital cost for Net-Zero 1 is projected to be on the order of $700M including the hydrocarbon production and related renewable energy infrastructure which includes anaerobic digestion to produce biogas to run our plant and generate some electricity on-site. Citigroup is assisting Gevo in raising the necessary capital for Net-Zero 1.

“This is not a new project but rather the first of the projects that we have been working on with Citigroup to get financed. We are naming our future projects Net-Zero to make clear the mission we are on to reduce GHG emissions. By using carbon from the air as our raw material source with its inherent low-carbon footprint, sustainable agriculture, a combination of renewable energy obtained from photosynthesis, wind, and biogas, we see that it is possible to transform renewable energy into liquid hydrocarbon fuels that work with combustion engines typical of cars, planes, and trucks with the added benefit that these fuels have a net-zero carbon footprint across the whole lifecycle. Think about it: it is conceivable to eliminate tailpipe emissions from cars, planes and trucks on a net GHG basis, while leveraging existing cars, planes, and trucks on a full 'cradle to cradle' GHG basis. Our Net-Zero 1 Project isn’t just about capturing renewable energy and carbon, and transforming it into liquid renewable energy; it’s also about generating enormous quantities of protein, and nutrition for the food chain. The high protein feed would be low-carbon footprint too—and we are happy to help farmers raise beef, pigs, chicken, and dairy in a way that lowers GHG emissions. We’ve got work to do to make it all happen,” said Dr. Patrick R. Gruber, Chief Executive Officer, Gevo. “We believe that there will be demand for additional Net-Zero projects in the future,” Gruber continued.

Green Plains and Ospraie Management Acquire Majority Stake in Fluid Quip Technologies

 Green Plains Inc. announced recently that it had acquired a majority interest in Fluid Quip Technologies (Fluid Quip) in a joint transaction led by Ospraie Management LLC (Ospraie). The acquisition capitalizes on the core strengths of the partners to develop and implement proven, value-added agriculture, food and industrial biotechnology systems, and to rapidly expand installation of Ultra-High Protein production across Green Plains’ facilities in parallel with offering these technologies to partnering biofuel facilities. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. As part of the transaction, Ospraie acquired 550,000 warrants for Green Plains stock (each warrant equal to one share of stock) with a strike price of $22 per share.

“We believe the Fluid Quip IP portfolio has many game changing valuable technologies that the world needs right now,” said Dwight Anderson, managing partner of Ospraie. “Whether it’s their clean sugar patent suite that creates new, low cost carbohydrate sources for potential use in synthetic biology, food production, or industrial biochemical fermentation, or their patent library on creating high protein ingredients for pet food, aquaculture and other high value feed products, this all improves the environmental impact of feed solutions using inputs from farmers. Sustainable protein solutions are healthier, more efficient and less harmful to the global food system including, reducing the carbon footprint of production agriculture.”

“The partnership between Fluid Quip, Ospraie, and Green Plains will accelerate our path to our 2023 transformation from a commodity-processing business to a value-add agriculture, food technology and industrial biotechnology company focusing on creating diverse, non-cyclical, higher margin products while improving the environmental and carbon footprint of food and feed,” said Todd Becker, president and chief executive officer of Green Plains. “This partnership will help advance the installation of Ultra-High Protein technology across our platform, significantly increase our renewable corn oil production to participate in the growing low carbon fuel markets and the renewable diesel value chain, further drive reduction of our operating expenses and significantly expand our product offerings. This transaction is a vital step in our evolution as it enhances our intellectual property portfolio, deepens our engineering expertise and maximizes operational efficiencies through powerful technology capabilities, while achieving significant financial return opportunities for our shareholders.”

“This transaction offers a unique opportunity to bolster Fluid Quip’s growth trajectory and financial strength through Ospraie’s and Green Plains’ expanded footprint, industry experience and worldwide relationships,” said John Kwik, partner of Fluid Quip Technologies. “We will now be able to accelerate the development of revolutionary technologies that will drive transformational change to how agricultural products get used. With growing interest in the protein space, this partnership will leverage strong capabilities to help defend and protect the Fluid Quip IP portfolio from infringement. Finally, we will continue the implementation of our market leading flex-plant patented technologies, value added protein technologies and bolt-on processes that increase plant efficiencies for Fluid Quip’s large global customer base as well.”

“When you combine all of our partnerships into one innovation and financial engine with the rapid advancements that are already taking place, we believe the results will be truly revolutionary,” stated Becker. “Through this combination, we believe we are squarely positioned to deliver unmatched value as a leader in sustainable, nutritious products created through fermentation of renewable resources using a full suite of world-class technologies.”

Over the last two years, Green Plains has made strategic investments to significantly transform the business from an ethanol and commodities processor, to a leading technology focused, innovative producer of sustainable, value-added ingredient solutions. The partnership will retain all Fluid Quip employees.

St. Joseph Renewable Fuels To Build $400 Million Renewable Diesel Plant In Southern Illinois

The City of Newton, Ill., Jasper County, and St. Joseph Renewable Fuels, LLC announced plans to build a $400 million renewable diesel plant in Southern Illinois. The 40-acre site in Newton, Ill., is within a federally designated Opportunity Zone, and is believed to be one of the largest projects proposed under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 that was designed to revive economically distressed communities in the United States.

The environmental benefits of the St. Joseph Renewable Fuels facility are supportive of efforts to promote renewable fuels, protect the environment and reduce CO2. Additionally, the plant will bring new sources of renewable fuels to metropolitan, rural and underserved communities. The facility will consume waste fats and greases from a region spanning 1,000 miles around Newton, which would otherwise be landfilled or emptied into sewer drains. The plant will convert the waste into 90 million gallons of diesel and naphtha fuel annually, as well as seven million gallons of technical grade glycerin.

“The fuel production technologies licensed to us and being deployed at the proposed facility in Newton promote sustainable practices,” said Geoffrey Hirson, CEO of St. Joseph Renewable Fuels, LLC. “The benefits realized transfer to both the local and global environment by producing renewable, reduced carbon fuels using carbon neutral or net-carbon negative production methods.”

Richard Podos, CEO of Lance Capital, said, “The St. Joe renewable diesel plant will drive economic growth in the city and county through $400 million of hard and soft construction costs, the revival of a shuttered site, and the production of ASTM-D975 renewable diesel. We will be advancing the project via tax incentives being offered by the city, and we also will be seeking state and federal support,” he added. Podos notes 100 permanent jobs will be created in the Newton community, plus 200 construction jobs for the duration of the two-year construction, as well as 300 trucking jobs for the State of Illinois once the plant is commissioned and operating.

Baseball Teams Knock It Out of the Park with Biodiesel

Sports fans nationwide are celebrating sustainable practices this weekend as October 6^th marks Green Sports Day. The annual event recognizes the efforts that athletes, supporters, and organizations make to reduce their environmental footprint. Baseball fans are already seeing a difference with cleaner air thanks to biodiesel.

Ballparks throughout the country are recycling used cooking oil into clean burning biodiesel. This advanced biofuel reduces carbon emissions by 80 percent, helping the crowds breathe easier.

“When I order food at a ballpark I can see all the grease in the concession stand,” said National Biodiesel Board Sustainability Director Don Scott. “It’s awesome to know that this nasty garbage is being made into a clean fuel.”

The Kansas City Royals, Milwaukee Brewers, and the San Diego Padres are only a handful of the stadiums participating in this green endeavor. During the Royal’s recent championship season, the stadium totaled more than 61 tons of food waste, recycling more than 4,500 gallons of oil. The Brewers home stadium, Miller Park, recycled 6,347 gallons of cooking oil last year alone.

Embracing sustainable practices, these stadiums are focusing on the fans by creating a clean fuel that helps their vehicles as well as their health. Choosing biodiesel really is a home run for baseball teams.

The Green Sports Alliance leverages the cultural and market influence of sports to promote healthy, sustainable communities where people live and play. The Alliance inspires professional sports leagues, college conferences, sports governing bodies, colleges, teams, venues, their partners and millions of fans to embrace renewable energy, healthy food, recycling, water efficiency, safer chemicals and other environmentally preferable practices. Alliance members represent nearly 600 sports teams and venues from 15 sports leagues in 14 countries.

Made from an increasingly diverse mix of resources such as recycled cooking oil, soybean oil and animal fats, biodiesel is a renewable, clean-burning diesel replacement that can be used in existing diesel engines without modification. It is the nation’s first domestically produced, commercially available advanced biofuel. NBB is the U.S. trade association representing the entire biodiesel value chain, including producers, feedstock suppliers, and fuel distributors, as well as the U.S. renewable diesel industry.