By Verbio North America Corp. | December 07, 2020
Verbio North America Corp. today announced the formation of Verbio Farm Services LLC as the company progresses towards the successful startup of its renewable natural gas production facility located in Nevada, Iowa. The facility has been under construction since early 2019, following VNA’s late 2018 purchase of the former DuPont cellulosic ethanol plant.
With the recent construction completion of 8 large fermentation tanks, plant operations are expected to commence operations early in the third quarter 2021. The plant utilizes sophisticated anerobic digestion technology to convert cellulosic agricultural residue into RNG. The location in central Iowa is ideally suited to providing the approximately 75–100,000 tons of corn stover, annually, to produce 7 million ethanol equivalent gallons of RNG once the first phase of the site’s redevelopment is complete.
Bernd Sauter, chief operating officer, director of purchasing and logistics, Verbio AG, said, “This is a critical step for our North America operations and we look forward to engaging with the region’s growers to secure feedstock vital to the plant’s operations.”
VFS will be responsible for identifying and contracting for corn stover in partnership with local growers. Setting up the new company will be the responsibilities of Ronald DeJongh, the company’s newly hired president.
A resident of Ames, DeJongh has been active in agricultural processing for over 30 years, bringing a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the new operation. “I am very excited about the opportunity to put in practice the proven strategies and tactics of our parent company, combined with our local knowledge of our region’s growers,” DeJongh stated. “This partnership will add significant value to the local economy while producing renewable transportation fuel from residual agricultural waste.”
VNA, through its operating subsidiary Verbio Nevada LLC currently manages 4 corn stover sites it acquired from DuPont. The sites will be integrated into VFS operations as part of a planned transition over the next several months.
