New Energy Blue, the clean-energy developer whose technology converts agricultural waste into lowest-carbon biofuels and biochemicals, has officially announced a partnership with ARCO/Murray, one of America’s largest, most experienced, and fastest-growing construction firms. Together, the companies will develop a New Energy Biomass Refinery designed platform across the American Midwest. According to certain reports, the stated New Energy Freedom biomass refinery will spring up in Mason City, Iowa, a location from where it will sustainably process corn stalks into second-generation fuel ethanol and clean lignin. Functioning under a construction contract worth around $650 million, the facility is expected, quite unsurprisingly, to deliver a significant economic impact in the region. This impact translates directly to the creation of 400 to 500 high-paying construction positions, something that is likely to materialize over a 20-month period. Among these positions, refinery operators and feedstock suppliers from New Energy Farmers aggregation team will hold about 70 permanent jobs, carrying an annual payroll of $7 million. Markedly enough, the ripple effect to emerge from the high positions in question will generate another 5,000 jobs. Apart from that, local growers also stand to make significant gains here, considering they can sell their excessive corn stock to the refinery, as well as participate in profit-sharing through the New Energy Farmers business unit. The facility’s impact will bolster Iowa’s status as a state already responsible for one-quarter of US production, with its industry alone contributing more than $8 billion to household incomes annually and 100,000 indirect and induced jobs.
“We are excited to partner with New Energy Blue on this groundbreaking biomass refining project, reflecting our shared commitment to sustainability and innovation in the renewable energy sector. We welcome the opportunity to help launch a nascent industry dedicated to decarbonizing this country’s fuel and chemicals,” said Patrick Hidder, Executive Vice President of ARCO/Murray’s Green Infrastructure team.
Beyond the new facility, both New Energy Blue and ARCO/Murray have already agreed to extend their partnership to construct four more New Energy biomass refineries in the next five years, facilities that will be situated near the first one to take advantage of the area’s superabundance of corn stover. Having said that, the partners’ wider vision is to get around 15 such biomass refineries operational by 2030, 150 by 2040, and over 500 by the year 2050. Assuming these plans do come through, they will ensure production of more than 21 billion gallons of 2G ethanol from leftover stalks and straws, as well as perennial energy grasses like miscanthus. The stated plans also deliver a rather interesting follow-up to recently-made predictions based on New Energy Blue’s latest independent life-cycle analysis, predictions that claim 500 refineries are enough to eliminate more than 130 million tons of CO2 from of the atmosphere every year.
“Selection of ARCO/Murray as engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor has paid off immediately. Their involvement is letting us accelerate the project schedule, manage costs, and provide the necessary bonding capacity needed to satisfy finance. ARCO/Murray’s expertise in process piping, water treatment, anaerobic digestion, and power solutions has already added significant value,” said James Foster, Vice President of Construction for New Energy Blue.
