INEOS Bio begins power generation at Florida bioethanol plant

INEOS Bio has begun producing renewable power at its joint-venture project, INEOS New Planet BioEnergy (INPB), using the proprietary feedstock flexible BioEnergy technology.

The plant uses renewable biomass such as yard, vegetative and agricultural wastes as feedstock.

Power generated will be supplied to the facility as well as to 1,400 homes in the local Vero Beach community.

At full capacity, INEOS Bio’s Indian River BioEnergy Center is expected to produce eight million gallons of advanced cellulosic bioethanol and 6MW of renewable power.

INEOS Bio CEO and INPB chairman Peter Williams said that the technology improves the energy efficiency and greenhouse gas savings of the facility as well as helps in meeting a part of local energy needs.

"We look forward to rapidly rolling out this technology globally to provide the benefits of bioethanol and renewable power from waste to local communities," Williams added.

The centre utilizes non-food vegetative waste materials to produce cellulosic ethanol. The biogenic material undergoes the gasification process to produce synthesis gas (syngas). Electricity is produced when the heat from the syngas is fed into a steam turbine.

INEOS Bio expects to produce advanced cellulosic bioethanol by December 2012.

According to the company, the center will serve as a reference plant for companies and cities interested in the technology and for future INEOS Bio facilities.

Constructed in June 2012, the center is the first large-scale project to obtain US EPA approvals for a facility that uses non-food vegetative waste materials to produce cellulosic ethanol.