US ethanol plant put on back burner

An US biofuels plant owned by Bluefire Renewables has been described as ‘not dead, just dormant’ by Mississippi officials.

Itawamba County Development Council executive director Greg Deakle was quoted as saying that work on the Fulton-based plant has gone on ‘indefinite hiatus’ while Bluefire focuses on other projects.

The project, which has entered its fourth year and secured investment from across the globe, has been site-prepared for construction for a while. The cost of the facility, benchmarked at $300 million (€230.9 million) in 2009, has risen over time and a partnership with Chinese equity company China Huadian Engineering was signed for extra funding in 2011.

However Deakle believes a new project to construct a sugar cellulose plant in Korea has now taken precedence in Bluefire’s eyes.

The ethanol plant planned to use available green and wood wastes as feedstock for the production of around 19 million gallons of ethanol per year.

Bluefire is still paying a monthly lease on the Fulton site.