Isobutanol Plant in Minnesota

Gevo, a privately held renewable chemicals and advanced biofuels company, signed definitive agreements Monday to acquire Agri-Energy's ethanol plant in Luverne, Minnesota where the company will start isobutanol production in 2012. Mechanical retrofitting of the plant will begin once the deal is closed. Gevo has developed a technology designed to retrofit into existing corn-ethanol plants. During most of the retrofit process, plant will continue to produce ethanol.

 

Isobutanol can be used directly as a solvent and converted to isobutylene, the raw material for plastics and fibers. Gevo believes isobutanol will lead to the renewable production of rubber, polypropylene, polystyrene, and PET. Isobutanol also can be used as a gasoline blendstock and as a building block in the production of hydrocarbons found in petroleum-derived gasoline, jet and diesel fuels.

 

The process used by Gevo enables the production of isobutanol from feedstocks such as corn, wheat, sorghum, barley, sugarcane and cellulosic feedstocks when biomass conversion becomes commercially available.

 

August 2010: Source: DTN