Nu-Energie to open 5 Mgy biodiesel plant in Tennessee
In Tennessee, Nu-Energie will open its 5 Mgy multi-feedstock biodiesel plant this week in Surgoinsville. The plant will commence production using soybean oil feedstock and an initial capacity of 4 Mgy.
In Tennesee, Senator Lamar Alexander recently gave a speech on the benefits of the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative, a partnership between the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Sen. Alexander said the partnership would result in 4,000 new jobs in rural Tennessee, $400 million in new state and local revenues annually, 3,000 jobs and $1 billion in revenue from producing the chemicals that process biofuels, $100 million in annual farm income, and 1 billion gallons per year of Grassoline annually at a wholesale price of $1.20 per gallon.
Mascoma, a start-up out of Dartmouth which pioneered high-yield enzymes for ethanol production, is a partner in the proposed ethanol plant created by the Tennessee Biofuels Initiative. The initiative received a jump start this year when Oak Ridge was the recipient of a Department of Energy grant to produce cellulosic ethanol on a commercially-viable scale.
