BlueFire lands loan guarantee

FULTON — BlueFire Ethanol Fuels Inc. announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has determined that BlueFire Ethanol has met the requirements of part one of the application process and that they have been invited to continue onto part two for the financing of its Lancaster, Calif., project.

The loan guarantee pursuant to this program would support the construction of BlueFire’s “shovel-ready” commercial (cellulosic) biofuels plant planned for Lancaster. Under this program, BlueFire has requested $56 million, which would be combined with other sources to provide sufficient capital for the project’s construction and launch. BlueFire has completed the permitting process and is poised to break ground upon completion of the financing and loan guarantee agreements. The Lancaster facility is designed to convert post-sorted cellulosic waste materials diverted from southern California’s landfills to produce approximately 3.9 million gallons of fuel-grade ethanol per year.

BlueFire Ethanol recently announced its second commercial cellulosic ethanol plant location in Fulton in Northeast Mississippi. The project will allow BlueFire to utilize green and wood wastes available in the region as feedstock for the ethanol plant that will be designed to produce nearly 18 million gallons of ethanol per year. BlueFire expects to announce a third planned project facility “in the near future.”

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