CLEARFIELD – The Clearfield County Commissioners authorized an extension to the Redevelopment Community Assistance Program (RCAP) grant that had been previously awarded to the former Bionol Clearfield LLC at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
Pennsylvania Grain Processing LLC (PGP) sought the extension so it could utilize the RCAP grant funding left by the facility’s predecessor owner. PGP has plans for site improvements to its offloading and unloading areas that would increase its efficiency, said Commissioner Mark B. McCracken.
The commissioners said there’s approximately $750,000 leftover in RCAP funding.
In May, PGP closed upon the purchase of the former ethanol plant for its grain processing facility and began production in mid-July. The facility can process up to 40 million bushels of grain per year into 110 million gallons of ethanol and 330,000 tons of dry distiller’s grain with solubles, according to a previous GantDaily.com report.
PGP is an affiliate of Zeeland Farm Services Inc. (ZFS), a 60-year-old, diversified agricultural and transportation company headquartered in west Michigan. ZFS comprises four separate divisions: Zeeland Farm Services Inc., Zeeland Farm Soya Inc., Zeeland Freight Services Inc. and Zeeland Food Services Inc.
ZFS’ products and services include soybean processing, feed ingredients, grain marketing, a full-service elevator, ZFSelect® soybean seeds, Zoye® soybean oils, transportation and maintenance.
Another affiliate of ZFS, Nebraska Corn Processing LLC (NCP), owns and operates a facility that processes grain into ethanol and distiller’s grain in southwest Nebraska.
Clearfield Bionol LLC initiated construction of the former ethanol plant in April 2008. It started production at the $275 million ethanol plant early in its first quarter in 2010. However, in July 2010, it announced that Getty Oil/LukOil would default its five-year contract to purchase the vast majority of the plant’s ethanol.
Bionol Clearfield LLC went into “hot idle” in June 2011, before it, along with affiliates Bioenergy Holdings and Bionol Holdings, announced filing for Chapter 7 liquidation bankruptcy in July 2011 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. In August 2011, Bionol Clearfield LLC won a $230 million arbitration award from Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc.
The former ethanol plant was purchased for $9.35 million at an auction this spring, according to the Ethanol Producer Magazine.
