BenchMark Energy buys half of Energy Partners

Glycerin marketing and refining company BenchMark Energy has acquired 49% of Energy Partners, a renewable energy business that works in the bio-based industry.

Energy Partners is currently in talks with the city of Grand Forks in North Dakota to build a 21,600 square foot glycerin processing facility.

The facility is expected to be complete mid-2012 and will employee 29 employees and produce about 9 million gallons of glycerine a year.

The glycerin would be sourced from surrounding biodiesel plants, from roughly an 800 mile radius.