Renewable Energy Group acquires KiOR hydrotreater, distillation column, tankers for $1.5M

Remainder of the production plant goes to auction next week

In Iowa, a subsidiary of Renewable Energy Group has received approval from a Mississippi court to purchase certain equipment at the KiOR Columbus, LLC production facility.

Under the approved asset purchase agreement, REG Synthetic Fuels, LLC paid $1.5M, plus certain expenses related to equipment preparation, to acquire various physical assets at the Columbus, MS plant, including a 12-million gallon hydrotreating unit, distillation column and tankage.

“These are quality assets we were able to purchase for a very good value,” said Brad Albin, Vice President, Manufacturing. “We plan to re-locate and utilize the equipment for future advanced biofuel or renewable chemical projects.”

No, they’re not buying KiOR’s technology. That appears to be going back to the Khosla empire, which continues to pursue improvements to the system that went spectacularly wrong in scale-up at Columbus, Mississippi.

Nor is KiOR buying all of the equipment. That “BIOMASS/WOOD CHIP TO FUEL PRODUCTION PLANT” we highlighted earlier today in a Digest e-mail. No prizes for guessing, that’s the KiOR production plant.

After the REG buy, what’s there?

Wood Chip Milling & Processing, Cellulosic Fiber to Fuel Refinery, Plant Support Including Cogeneration Plant,Parts Inventory, Maintenance, Offices — and as they say in late night TV, there’s much, much more.

The auction

By the way, you can preview on October 13 and 14 — and the live auction is October 15th. All about that here.