Vega Biofuels, Inc. announced today that construction has started at the site of its Joint Venture with Agri-Tech Producers, LLC in Allendale, SC.
Vega recently announced it has entered into the Joint Venture to build and operate a pilot manufacturing plant in Allendale, SC to produce Bio-Coal, among other torrefied products. When completed in Q1 2015, the plant will use a patented torrefaction technology to produce the Company's green-energy Bio-Coal product from plant and wood biomass, which will then be sold to power companies around the world. A clean and renewable alternative to traditional coal, Bio-Coal has a high energy density of up to 13,000 BTUs, and is a fuel that meets the EU's requirements and those of the Renewable Portfolio Standards and Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) in the United States.
The Joint Venture, ATP-SC has leased a 15-acre site on which its operations will be located. Its sub-tenant, Statiol, SA, will also locate a pellet plant on the site, as a part of phase 1 site development, which includes Statiol's investment in shared infrastructure. Recent pictures show the portion of ATP-SC's site on which Statiol's construction has begun. ATP-SC's facilities are to be developed in phase 2 as Statiol completes its construction. In addition, Statiol's experienced management will be assisting ATP-SC's operations, including pelletizing some of ATP-SC's Bio-coal output.
Immediately adjacent to the manufacturing site, ATP-SC has leased a 40-acre farming site on which various bio-crops will be grown for demonstration and testing purposes. ATP-SC celebrated National Bio-Energy Day, on October 22nd, by announcing that the farming site had just been planted with canola, a winter oil-seed crop which will be replaced by bio-crops in the spring.
Michael K. Molen, Chairman/CEO of Vega Biofuels, Inc., stated, "We are happy to announce that construction has started at the Allendale site. There was some confusion about the pictures we released a couple of weeks ago. Even though construction has started at the site, the framing work shown in the pictures is part of phase 1 site development. The building that will house ATP-SC's torrefaction machine has not broken ground yet. That is part of phase 2 on the site and is scheduled to be completed during Q1 of 2015."
