Verbio begins conversion of Indiana ethanol plant into integrated biorefinery

German renewable energy company Verbio has started converting its South Bend, Indiana, ethanol plant into an integrated biorefinery to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) and ethanol, the company announced on May 24.

Verbio acquired the South Bend plant in May 2023 from Mercuria Investments and plans to invest $230mn in the facility. The City of South Bend granted approval for the expansion application in April 2024.

Upon completion, the new plant will have an annual production capacity of at least 250,000 tonnes of bioethanol and 850,000 MWh of biomethane. The commissioning of the combined bioethanol-biomethane production facility is scheduled for 2026. The biomethane will be fed into the regional natural gas grid for use as a biofuel or renewable energy source for industrial applications, and the fertilizer created in the production process will be returned to agriculture.

"In the US we benefit from attractive framework conditions, low energy and raw material costs, the large volumes of biomass available and a good infrastructure, as well as political decisions that are focused on the long-term, making them more reliable. In the medium term, we will be able to produce more ethanol and biomethane in our plants in Nevada, Iowa, and South Bend, Indiana, than we do in Germany today," said Claus Sauter, CEO of Verbio.

South Bend is Verbio’s second biorefinery project in the US. Its first plant in Nevada, Iowa, has been producing biomethane from maize straw since 2021. The expansion in South Bend coincides with the launch of combined bioethanol-biomethane production at the Nevada plant, which is expected to start in the coming weeks.