Biodiesel plant in Texas to get new lease of life

An idle biodiesel plant in Texas, US is set to restart under new owners as Denton City Council figured out a new lease agreement.

American Bio Source will take over the running of the 3 million gallon a year facility, mothballed since 2008, at a reported cost of $1,200 (€878) a month, plus a royalty of around $0.01 per gallon of biodiesel sold. The company is entering its fourth year as a recycler of restaurant grease and oil in the region.

The plant exists through an original partnership between the city and a California-based biodiesel company signed 10 years ago and production began in 2005. The plant closed three years later, despite the city agreeing to purchase 300,000 gallons of biodiesel a year, and Denton successfully sued for breach of contract.

The facility, which originally cost $3 million to build, is based by a landfill site and uses methane gas to power its operations from it.