Plant project planned for Boulder, Colo.

Bio Plant Technologies LLC, operating as ClearEcos, and GHP Biodiesel USA Inc. have joined forces to establish a new 11.5 MMgy biodiesel plant in Boulder, Colo. Founded five years ago, ClearEcos is a Colorado-based grease 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. Lange tells Biodiesel Magazine the processors, formerly installed in Germany, were scheduled to arrive in Boulder early this summer.

GHP Biodiesel USA originated in Germany as a biodiesel production technology provider. Its technology focuses on a decentralized, modular and containerized approach. GHP Biodiesel produced biodiesel in Germany with those processors for more than four years, Lange says. “They are ultra-low-emission, ultra-efficient, continuous flow processors,” he adds. 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 says his company originally planned this project about five years ago, but the industry endured rough times in 2008-’09 when project development halted. “It took a few more years for enough stability in the industry to make this project secure,” he says. “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. 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.

Gregory Gettinger, CEO of GHP Biodiesel USA, says, “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.”