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Louisiana Site for $1.4B Biofuel Plant

[ September 20, 2024   //   ]

Woodland Biofuels Inc. has proposed investing US$1.35 billion at the Port of South Louisiana to establish one of the world’s largest renewable biofuels production facilities.
The Toronto-based company said it would utilize waste biomass to produce sustainable biofuel used in transportation, heating and electricity generation in Reserve, Louisiana.
Louisiana Economic Development, or LED, estimates that the project would result in 259 indirect new jobs for a total of 369 permanent new jobs in the Southeast. Woodlands Biofuels estimates that the project would create about 500 construction jobs.
The project’s first phase would be the largest carbon negative renewable natural gas facility globally, and the second phase would be the world’s largest carbon negative ultra-green hydrogen plant.
The Toronto-based company will utilize waste biomass to produce sustainable biofuel used in transportation, heating and electricity generation.
LED offered Woodland Biofuels a competitive incentives package that includes a US$10 million performance-based grant for infrastructure improvements and the comprehensive workforce development solutions of LED FastStart. The company is also expected to participate in Louisiana’s Quality Jobs and Industrial Tax Exemption programs.
Woodland’s technology uses waste biomass, to generate low cost, carbon negative hydrogen, renewable natural gas, methanol or ethanol, resulting in up to a 283 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
The new facility, to be located at the Port of South Louisiana’s Globalplex multimodal facility, would include the world’s largest renewable natural gas production plant, according to Woodland Biofuels. It expects to permanently remove hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually and store it safely underground at a carbon sequestration site to be determined later.
Woodland said the first phase is expected to permanently remove 210,000 tonnes of CO2 annually, while the second phase will remove about 660,000 tonnes of CO2 annually. Ultimately, the project is expected to be one of the largest carbon dioxide removal projects globally – permanently removing millions of tonnes of CO2 from the ecosystem.
“Woodland is thrilled to announce that we plan to build, right here at the Port of South Louisiana, the world’s largest carbon-negative RNG facility,” Woodland Biofuels CEO Greg Nuttall said. “Our sustainable biofuel plant will be an economic driver for St. John Parish and beyond. We look forward to establishing deep ties with the local community, and drawing on the existing world-class workforce and utilizing Louisiana’s exceptional infrastructure to execute on our project.”
A front-end engineering design, or FEED, study for the site is anticipated to be finalized by the second quarter of 2025, with a final investment decision expected by the end of next year. Commercial operations for the first phase of the project – the renewable natural gas production plant – are projected to start in 2028.
“Port of South Louisiana is the second ranked port in the nation for energy transfer,” port CEO Paul Matthews said. “This significant investment by Woodland Biofuels to construct the world’s largest carbon negative renewable natural gas plant and a large-scale green hydrogen facility at our Globalplex Intermodal Terminal proves that PortSL and the state of Louisiana are leading the way in diversifying our energy industry, which will result in the creation of hundreds of high-paying jobs for River Region families.”
“Woodlands Biofuels is set to become a signature part of Louisiana and GNO’s ‘all-of-the-above’ energy strategy,” said Michael Hecht, president and CEO of Greater New Orleans Inc., South Louisiana’s economic development organization. “US$1.3 billion plus 110 new jobs plus renewable natural gas and hydrogen are a winning formula for everyone.”

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