Advanced BioFuels USA

by Ron Kotrba (Biodiesel Magazine)  Most people in the U.S. have probably never heard of cyperus esculentus, but Victor Garlington, managing partner at BioEconomy Solutions, believes it is the next big thing in biomass-based diesel feedstock. The company has grand plans for this obscure crop, including a signed 10-year offtake contract for 120,000 metric tons (36 million gallons) of oil annually with an overseas buyer and, eventually, small-scale renewable diesel production. But to fulfill this, BioEconomy Solutions must educate farmers, get them onboard to grow the crop, build out crush capacity and install a hydrotreating unit.

Cyperus esculentus goes by many names—chufa sedge, nut grass, yellow nutsedge, tiger nutsedge, edible galingale, water grass and earth almond, to name the more popular ones. Unlike many crop-based feedstocks used for biodiesel or renewable diesel production, cyperus esculentus is not an oilseed. Rather, the crop is valued for its edible, oil-rich tubers, sometimes called tiger nuts.

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 “This is something no one has looked at [in the U.S.] since the late 1800s or early 1900s as a commercial crop. In other places like Spain or countries in Africa, it’s a commodity used as food, or a replacement for milk.”

Garlington says BioEconomy Solutions is focusing on cyperus esculentus for a couple of key reasons. One, the tubers contain about 25 percent oil—a relatively high oil content compared to, for example, soybeans, which typically contain less than 20 percent oil. The second reason involves the type of oil. “The cold flow properties are excellent for the EU climate and does not require further additives, which increase final product cost,” he says. Furthermore, he says cyperus esculentus can be commercially planted, harvested and processed with existing implements and machinery. “No special equipment is needed,” Garlington says. “We are using readily available equipment in the marketplace currently.”

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“… We were players in growing alternative mustards on the West Coast, camelina, but then the bottom fell out of the industry and interest went out. Two years ago, we saw the writing on the wall, especially in the EU. We had chance to travel to Turkey and England, and soon I realized everyone outside of the U.S. was far more [worse off] than we are, paying so much more than us for fuel. That drives action. On the West Coast, diesel was $5 a gallon. Again, that drives action. That’s what I feel is driving our business, proven by our long-term offtake agreement [with a buyer in the U.K.]. With the pain they’re going through in Europe today, and government mandates up from 5 to 7 to 10 percent blends, IMO 2020, the ban on palm oil—all these things are converging to make a boom for biofuels again. Maybe not so much here in America, but abroad. We’re thankful to have the $1 per gallon tax credit again here in the U.S., but there’s nowhere near the demand here compared to the EU.”

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In February, Carolina Opportunity Funds announced that its first IMPACT Carolina Fund investment—a qualified opportunity fund (QOF) designed to provide seed and early-stage financing to qualified opportunity zone businesses located in North and South Carolina—was being provided to BioEconomy Solutions for its planned cyperus esculentus crush facility and subsequent renewable diesel plant in Georgetown, South Carolina.

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BioEconomy Solutions’ business plan is laid out in two phases. The first phase is educating farmers and establishing grow contracts, building a large-scale crush facility and supplying oil. “Our goal for Phase 1,” Garlington says, “is to supply our offtake agreement by the fourth quarter [of this year]. In 2021, the plan is to increase our oilseed processing capabilities along with educating farmers on our oilseed crop.”

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Thus far, the company has been crushing tiger nutsedge through toll contracting via mechanical cold-pressing.

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The second phase of BioEconomy Solutions’ business plan is to construct and operate a 5 MMgy renewable diesel production facility in Georgetown, South Carolina, near the cyperus esculentus crush facility.

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“We want to add a 5 million-gallon hydrotreating renewable diesel production facility to focus on the marine, rail, and over-the-road diesel markets,” he says. “We’ve been talking to folks in the marine industry, ship owners in Canada and Europe. With IMO 2020, the need for [low-sulfur marine fuel] is tremendous, and they don’t know how to fill that gap. Once we get a good baseline proof of concept, and offtakes with those operators, we can expand. We’ve got plenty of land in Georgetown, not to mention there’s people there from other industries—the pulp and paper and steel industries—to employ.” READ MORE