Area to get biodiesel plant
A New Jersey company said its facility will employ 100 people in northeast Indiana.
An alternative fuels company plans to build a biodiesel plant with a 30 million-gallon annual production capacity that will employ more than 100 people in northeast Indiana.
Executives with Mean Green BioFuels Corp. and its Mount Arlington, N.J.-based parent, GreenShift Corp., could not be reached for comment late Thursday.
A prepared statement said they will make a formal announcement next year at a news conference in Fort Wayne. The statement did not say whether a site for the plant had been selected, but said it is among five biodiesel facilities the company plans to build and operate in the eastern United States, starting next year.
Indiana is a major soybean-producing state, and Mean Green will make its biodiesel fuel from soybean oil, corn oil extracted from ethanol facilities, animal fats from rendering plants and animal fats from the wastewater sludge of meat-processing plants.
“We believe that America’s agricultural sector is filled with highly skilled, hard-working and creative people with tremendous potential,” said Kevin Kreisler, GreenShift’s chairman and chief executive officer, in the statement. “We are proud to have the opportunity to invest in American agriculture and we look forward to bringing our plans to fruition in northeastern Indiana.”
At a conservative $2.30 per gallon, Kreisler said in the statement the area plant would generate about $69 million in annual revenue, while helping re-energize American agriculture and reducing harmful greenhouse gases, as well as U.S. dependence on foreign oil.
GreenShift said biodiesel fuel can be used in most diesel engines with little or no modifications. It said the country produces about 100 million gallons of biodiesel annually, and uses more than 37 billion gallons of petroleum diesel each year.