Chemtex Will Build U.S. Biofuels Plant

Chemtex, the engineering arm of Italy’s Mossi & Ghisolfi, plans to build a 20 million-gal-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant in Sampson County, N.C., by 2014. The project has been selected to receive a $99 million loan guarantee from the Department of Agriculture’s Biorefinery Assistance Program. Last year, the company began construction on a similar facility in Crescentino, Italy. Both efforts will use cellulosic sugar technology from Beta Renewables, a joint venture of Chemtex and TPG Capital. Another partner, Novozymes, will provide the enzymes for the facilities. The feedstock will be nonfood crops grown on marginal land.