In November 2008, Cilion completed the original $130m construction and commissioning of the plant, at which natural gas and steam powered turbine cogeneration unit generates all of the operating electric needs of the plant (4.3MW).
AE Keyes took possession of the facility under a project agreement with Cilion in March 2010, signed a facility lease for up to five years, and funded $8m of financing to retrofit and restart the plant.
AE Keyes recently received a $1.88m matching grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to accelerate the commercial implementation of AE Biofuels’ enzyme based, cellulosic ethanol production technology.
The CEC grant will enable the company to build upon prior enzyme optimization work conducted at its cellulose/starch pilot facility in Montana which was opened in 2008.
The integrated cellulose/starch pre-commercial facility will be located near the 55 million gallon per year commercial ethanol facility.
