Fort Collins' Symbios helps ZeaChem receive grant

Fort Collins' Symbios helps ZeaChem receive grant
By Coloradoan staff • December 15, 2009

Thanks in part to a large government grant, a renewable-energy company is looking to construct its first cellulosic biorefinery.

Fort Collins-based Symbios Technologies LLC, a renewable-energy project developer, helped ZeaChem Inc. receive a $25 million grant from the Department of Energy.

The grant was awarded by the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, or EERE, Biomass Program and is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or ARRA.

Symbios worked with Lakewood-based ZeaChem, which develops biorefineries that convert renewable biomass into fuels and chemicals, to achieve the DOE grant.

"This was a five-month process involving a 10-person team of Symbios staff and consultants, plus numerous personnel from ZeaChem and CH2M HILL," said Justin Bzdek, Symbios' president and CEO, in a prepared statement.

The grant will be used to construct the company's first cellulosic biorefinery, which will have a capacity of 250,000 gallons per year.

It is slated to be built in Boardman, Ore. Upon completion of the 250,000-gallons-per-year biorefinery, ZeaChem intends to scale to a commercial biorefinery, according to a news release.

DOE awarded a total of $564 million in stimulus funds to spur job creation and deploy advanced biorefinery projects. ZeaChem is one of 19 organizations selected for the grant.
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