Imperial County a new hub for California biofuels industry

Imperial County in in southeastern California has become a new center of the developing California biofuels industry, with five plants in planning or operation with a total capacity of 213 million gallons of ethanol and 3 million gallons of biodiesel. Cilion, Imperial Bioresources, Imperial Valley Biodiesel, Pacific Ethanol (PEIX), and USFarms are the project owners.

Imperial County advocates cite the county’s success with alfalfa production, which requires a comparable amount of water to sugarcane, and has higher maintenance and a lower market price.

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