Bio Plant Technologies LLC, operating as ClearEcos, and GHP Biodiesel USA Inc. signed an agreement to join forces to establish a new 11.5 MMgy biodiesel plant in Boulder, Colo.

Founded five years ago, ClearEcos is a Colorado-based UCO collector.

According to Kurt Lange, CEO of Bio Plant Technologies, the oil processing portion of the plant is already built and being expanded, while the biodiesel production aspect of the facility is in the engineering/architectural/zoning and planning phase. “The processors will be in Boulder in about 60 days,” Lange told Biodiesel Magazine. “Formerly they were in Germany.”

GHP Biodiesel USA Inc. originated in Germany as a biodiesel production technology provider. GHP’s technology focuses on a decentralized, modular and containerized approach. GHP Biodiesel produced biodiesel in Germany with those processors for more than four years, Lange said. “They are ultra-low-emission, ultra-efficient, continuous flow processors,” he added. One of the processors is scaled at 7.5 MMgy and the other is 4 MMgy. The two units will be run in parallel.

Lange said his company originally planned this project about five years ago, but the industry endured rough times in 2008-’09: all-time high feedstock prices idled many biodiesel plants; the EU, a major export market, imposed tariffs on U.S. biodiesel; a significantly delayed implementation of RFS2; and a global financial meltdown that halted project development. “It took a few more years for enough stability in the industry to make this project secure,” he said.

“We originally partnered with Environmental Green Energy in Kansas to complete the first phase loop and provided biodiesel to the Boulder County municipal fleet for the past four years,” Lange said. “They won an award from the National Association of Counties for the program that we created.”

ClearEcos is assisting Dara Lor of Summit Greasecycling in organizing this year’s Collective Biodiesel Conference Aug. 15-18 in Breckenridge, Colo.

“Together with our restaurant partners, we will create a cleaner environment and cleaner communities in Colorado,” Lange said. “The usage of local restaurants' grease to create biodiesel for our municipal fleets ensures that the economic and environmental benefits of our business stay in the region. As our business grows, we will continue to create jobs for Colorado.”

Gregory Gettinger, CEO of GHP Biodiesel USA, said, “We are happy to announce this strategic merger between the UCO collection and the biodiesel production. The synergies in production and logistics are striking. Moving up the value chain from used oil collection to an integrated energy provider is a logical strategic step in this industry.”