Green Plains Inc. today announced a technology collaboration with Equilon Enterprises LLC (Shell). This collaboration allows for Green Plains Inc. via Fluid Quip Technologies’ precision separation and processing technology (MSC) to be used with Shell Fiber Conversion Technology (SFCT). The two technologies will combine fermentation, mechanical separation and processing, and fiber conversion into one platform. This has the potential to create a new process to liberate all available distillers corn oil currently bound in the fiber fraction of the corn kernel, generate cellulosic sugars for production of low-carbon ethanol, and enhance and expand available high protein to produce high-quality ingredients for global animal feed diets. The start of the collaboration dates back to early 2021, after Green Plains completed the acquisition of Fluid Quip Technologies.

“We believe this strategic partnership with Shell will add significant value to our biorefinery platform, potentially ushering in a new era of agricultural processing that maximizes outputs of low-carbon fuels and feedstocks for higher-value markets,” said Todd Becker, Green Plains president and CEO. “MSC is the ideal mechanical separation technology to pair with Shell’s cutting-edge fiber conversion technology, which affirms the quality of the technology portfolio that Green Plains owns and controls through its acquisition of Fluid Quip. This positions MSC as a leading agricultural and biological precision separation technology platform to be used globally.”

Green Plains’ biorefinery in York, Nebraska is the location for both the MSC pilot plant and the SFCT demonstration facility, which will demonstrate the scalability of this technology. Commissioning is expected in 2024 and recruitment efforts are currently underway. Green Plains Innovation infrastructure will be used to accelerate the animal feed validation process.

“We are very pleased to see the construction of our SFCT demo facility underway and look forward to taking our technology to the next stage in collaboration with Green Plains and the deployment of their MSC technology,” said Sinead Lynch, senior vice president for low carbon fuels at Shell.

Following successful demonstration of the combined technology, and subject to positive final investment decisions, Green Plains and Shell will look for potential opportunities to take this technology platform forward through commercial deployment, beginning with one of Green Plains’ existing MSC facilities, with protein products used and distributed within Green Plains animal nutrition platform, and energy-based low carbon feedstocks and products managed by Shell.