Aemetis Inc. recently announced that its Aemetis Advanced Products Keyes subsidiary signed a 20-year feedstock supply agreement to produce cellulosic ethanol at a former U.S. Army munitions facility located in Riverbank, California, which is near the existing Aemetis biofuels plant in Keyes, California.

The feedstock to be supplied comes from the more than 1.6 million tons of waste orchard wood and nutshells that are generated each year from approximately 1 million acres of almond, walnut, and pistachio orchards in the Central Valley. Aemetis’ price of the feedstock is approximately $20 per ton delivered for the first 10 years.

As part of Phase One of the Riverbank cellulosic ethanol biorefinery, Aemetis plans to produce more than 10 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually to help meet cellulosic ethanol production requirements under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard and the increasing demand for low carbon biofuels under California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. In addition, the low carbon cellulosic ethanol transportation fuel produced at the Riverbank cellulosic ethanol biorefinery will also lower GHG emissions in the state by 80 percent or more compared to gasoline.

The current market price of cellulosic ethanol sold in California is estimated to be more than $4.50 per gallon, which is approximately $3.00 more per gallon than conventional ethanol.

The existing Aemetis biorefinery in Keyes produces more than 60 million gallons of ethanol annually. Aemetis plans to construct multiple phases of cellulosic ethanol production and add more than 40 million gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol capacity at the Riverbank site.