Green Biologics closes acquisition

The US branch of Green Biologics, a wholly owned subsidiary of the UK biotechnology and renewable chemicals company, has closed its acquisition of the assets of Central MN Ethanol Cooperative (CMEC) in Minnesota.

Green Biologics intends to repurpose the operation, which includes a 21 million gallon per year ethanol plant, to produce renewable n-butanol and acetone, utilising its proprietary advanced fermentation process (AFP) technology platform.

The plant is scheduled to begin production of renewable n-butanol and acetone in 2016, and will continue to produce ethanol until the repurposing is completed.

The purchase was in accordance with an asset purchase agreement with CMEC previously announced in December 2013. The acquisition was made through Central MN Renewables (CMR), an affiliate of Green Biologics.

Joel Stone, president of Green Biologics and CMR, says: 'This is a great opportunity to help Minnesota maintain its leadership position in renewables, and kick start a new renewable chemicals industry in the state.'

'Having built our demonstration facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa and met our technology milestones, we are now moving forward with the second stage – the completion of the CMEC plant acquisition and repurposing it to renewable n-butanol and acetone production for start-up in 2016,' says Sean Sutcliffe, CEO of Green Biologics and chairman of Green Biologics. 'Our downstream markets are robust and rapidly growing, with strong demand across a wide spectrum of customers in high value performance markets. We look forward to building stronger relationships with key customers, including our customers in key downstream derivatives.'