Startup has begun at the world's first commercial biobased isobutanol plant, Colorado-based Gevo Inc. said Thursday in a statement.
Gevo planned to produce isobutanol by retrofitting its 22 million gal/yr ethanol production facility in Luverne, Minnesota.
"Gevo retrofitted the Luverne plant to incorporate its proprietary yeast and Gevo Integrated Fermentation Technology system to produce biobased isobutanol," the statement said. "Through initial operation of the Luverne plant, Gevo expects to advance its learning of large-scale production of renewable isobutanol at the site, maintaining a goal of producing isobutanol at a run rate of approximately 1 million gallons per month by year-end 2012."
Gevo listed the full capacity for isobutanol production at the facility at an estimated 18 million gal/yr, up from the current annualized production estimate of 12 million gal/yr.
Production was expected to reach full capacity by the end of 2013, the company said.
