Verbio has announced the signing and closing of a purchase agreement with Mercuria Investments US to acquire South Bend Ethanol, an operating ethanol plant located in South Bend, Indiana.
This acquisition marks Verbio's second U.S. production facility following the successful commissioning of its Nevada, Iowa, plant. The company intends to expand and develop the plant into a modern biorefinery at an estimated total investment of $230 million.
“We are excited about the opportunity to integrate the production of ethanol with renewable natural gas (RNG) in the state of Indiana,” says Stefan Schreiber, executive board member for North America of Verbio AG. “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.”
Verbio plans to integrate the ethanol production with the RNG production process, unique to the Verbio brand and developed successfully at the company's facilities in Europe over the past decade. This integration will result in higher efficiencies and improved sustainability.
The site will be developed over the next three years, incorporating Verbio's advanced engineering and operating technology practices. 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.
The investment will incorporate additional equipment and processes necessary to produce value-added by-products, such as liquid fertilizers. 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.
The plant's primary feedstock, approximately 28 million bushels of corn annually used for ethanol production, will continue to be procured locally, and the company looks forward to working with the growers in the region. The company's goal is to increase the current number of 61 full-time employees at the facility to 69 by the end of 2025.
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Claus Sauter, founder and CEO of Verbio AG, says, “We see a continued strong demand for renewable energy solutions, especially in North American industrial process industries. This opens up promising economic perspectives for us and supports Verbio's growth and internationalization strategy. Our renewable energy operations worldwide are built on our company's twenty years plus commitment to sustainability and technological innovation. We look forward to further expanding our business within North America as well as internationally in the coming years.”
Verbio is one of the leading independent bioenergy manufacturers, operating facilities globally that currently produce about 3.5 Bcf of RNG, 198 million gallons of biodiesel, and 100 million gallons of ethanol annually. The company started operations in Nevada, Iowa, at its first US-based plant in 2021 and is about to commence ethanol production later this year, with 60 million gallons of capacity, in addition to its large-scale RNG operations. With the acquisition of South Bend Ethanol, Verbio is driving the shift away from fossil energy by offering advanced renewable fuel products, while also supporting continued opportunities for local growers.
