Verbio Celebrates Groundbreaking At South Bent Plant, Receives RFS Pathway Approval For Nevada Facility
Verbio breaks ground on a pioneering ethanol plant conversion project in South Bend, Indiana, following approval from the city. The facility aims to produce both ethanol and renewable natural gas (RNG) from corn stillage. Expected to yield 85 MMgy of ethanol and 2.8 billion cubic feet of RNG annually, it signifies Verbio’s commitment to sustainability. CEO Claus Sauter emphasizes the closed-loop system’s efficiency, targeting commercial RNG production by 2026.
Verbio on May 23 celebrated the groundbreaking of a conversion project at its ethanol plant in South Bend, Indiana, that will allow the facility to produce both ethanol and renewable natural gas (RNG) using an innovative production approach. A similar project is already underway at the company’s biorefinery in Nevada, Iowa.
The company received approval for the South Bend expansion project from the City of South Bend in April. Once the project is complete, the facility is expected to have the capacity to produce at least 85 MMgy of corn ethanol and 2.8 billion cubic feed of RNG annually.
During the first phase of the upgrade, which is scheduled to last six months, Verbio will build the foundations for eight new anaerobic digester tanks. During the second phase of construction, the company will construct eight digesters, along with related piping and wiring, several new buildings, and miscellaneous process equipment.
The facility will produce RNG from corn stillage, a coproduct of corn ethanol production. RNG produced at the South Bend plant will be fed into the regional natural gas grid and support the needs of industrial and commercial uses. Commercial-scale RNG production is expected to begin in 2026.
“Our business is focused on the sustainable use of all materials in a complex production process,” Claus Sauter, CEO of Verbio. “The technology approach we are applying integrates bioethanol and RNG production in a unique way. We are working with a closed-loop system that uses all raw materials sustainably and most efficiently. Almost 100% of all accumulated waste products are being refined in further steps into high-quality fertilizer products that are then sold back to growers. Through this, we create climate-friendly products in an energy and CO2efficient way.”
Verbio acquired the South Bend ethanol plant in May 2023 and announced plans to upgrade the facility. The company also owns a biorefinery located in Nevada, Iowa, that will produce corn ethanol and RNG. That facility, the former DuPont cellulosic ethanol plant, was purchased by Verbio in 2018 and retrofitted for RNG production. The Nevada facility began producing RNG from corn straw in 2021. The facility is being further upgraded to produce 60 MMgy of corn ethanol and RNG from stillage.
In its latest quarterly report, released May 14, Verbio announced commercial production at the Nevada biorefinery was expected to commence in the “near term.” According to the company, the biomethane portion of the Nevada plant was commissioned in March and was operating at approximately 30% capacity as of mid-May. The next step at the facility will be to begin ethanol production, which the company said was scheduled to begin within weeks. The plant is expected to be operating at full capacity within six to 12 months.
The U.S. EPA on April 29 issued a Renewable Fuel Standard pathway approval that will allow the Nevada facility to generate D6 renewable fuel renewable identification numbers (RINs) for the corn ethanol it produces. According to the EPA, corn ethanol produced at the Nevada facility is expected to achieve a 34% greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction when compared to a fossil baseline. Ethanol must achieve at least a 20% GHG reduction in order to qualify for the generation of D6 RINs.
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