South Bend Ethanol, LLC has been sold to Verbio North America Holdings Corp. As part of its acquisition, Verbio says it intends to spend an additional $230 million to expand and develop the facility into a modern biorefinery that will also include the production of renewable natural gas.
Verbio, which is headquartered in Zörbig, Germany, says all 61 employees at the facility will initially be retained. The company`s goal is to increase to 69 full-time employees by the end of 2025.
South Bend Ethanol had previously been owned by Mercuria Investments U.S., Inc.
This will be Verbio`s second U.S. production facility. In 2021 Verbio started operations in Nevada, Iowa, at its first US-based plant that is about to commence ethanol production later this year, with 60 million gallons of capacity, in addition to its large-scale RNG operations.
“We are excited about the opportunity to integrate the production of ethanol with renewable natural gas (RNG) in the state of Indiana,” comments Stefan Schreiber, Executive Board Member for North America of Verbio AG, the German-based parent company. “We believe this transaction provides an excellent path for Verbio to further strengthen its North America business and growth strategy. The site offers a competitive location as well as existing infrastructure and meets our requirements for access to the natural gas grid, electricity, feedstock sources and water supply.”
Advanced plant upgrade over the next three years
In a release, Verbio says integration of the ethanol production with the RNG production process will result in higher efficiencies and improved sustainability. The site will be developed over the next three years. Following commissioning, the production capacity of the plant will be at 85 million gallons of corn ethanol and 2.8 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of RNG per year.
Verbio says it plans to retain the assets of the existing ethanol plant and seek to improve yields and reduce energy consumption over the next several months. The investment will incorporate additional equipment and processes necessary to produce value-added by-products, such as liquid fertilizers. Further, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, aiming to boost investments in climate protection and clean energy in the United States, offers provisions that will benefit the Verbio project.
To support the construction project, a significant number of additional indirect jobs will be created in the surrounding community and across the state. Verbio is working on plans to start construction in the next several months, with commercial production of RNG for use in process industries and other end-use markets expected to begin in 2026.
The plant`s primary feedstock, approximately 28 million bushels of corn annually used for ethanol production, will continue to be locally-sourced.
