Seaboard Foods subsidiary High Plains Bioenergy has acquired the former Blue Sun Biodiesel plant in St. Joseph, Missouri. The facility has been renamed HPB-St. Joe Biodiesel LLC and will produce 28 MMgy when running at full capacity.

The newly acquired biodiesel facility will use regionally sourced feedstocks, such as distillers corn oil from ethanol plants. Even though a Seaboard Foods subsidiary recently built a new pork processing facility in St. Joseph, Gene Binder, director of sales and business development with High Plains Bioenergy, told Biodiesel Magazine the plant has no plans to use animal fats for biodiesel in St. Joe, as it does at its 30 MMgy biodiesel facility in Guymon, Oklahoma. 

HPB-St. Joe Biodiesel is currently operational and product is available for sale by truck and rail.

The company said one of its focuses at its new biodiesel processing facility will be manufacturing biodiesel with a lower cloud point.

“The growth of the biodiesel industry over the past decade has been tremendous,” Binder said. “With the addition of HPB-St. Joe Biodiesel, we are expanding our geographical footprint and adding value to customers by offering an integrated approach to our sales and marketing paradigm.”

Biodiesel Magazine first learned of High Plains Bioenergy’s acquisition while researching the property’s ownership for its soon-to-be-printed 2017 U.S. and Canadian Biodiesel Plant Map, which is slated for distribution with the 2017 print edition of Biodiesel Magazine. The new printed map will also be available at the 2017 National Biodiesel Conference & Expo in San Diego.