BioNitrogen Holdings Inc., West Palm Beach, Fla., the junior company that wants to turn biomass into urea, said last week that it will continue to focus on building its first two plants in Florida, though it has not completely given up on a similar plant in Reading, Penn.
The Reading plant was proposed for a 50-acre site owned by the Reading Redevelopment Authority (RRA). However, RRA officials told the local LeHigh Valley Business that the $330 million project was shelved as BioNitrogen did not supply financial statements during the due diligence period. The RRA was seeking $5 million for the site, and says there are at least three other companies interested in the site in the Riverview Industrial Park.
BioNitrogen told Green Markets that the Pennsylvania deal was not “off,” but that it was instead concentrating its plans on two previously proposed plants in Taylor and Hendry County in Florida.
In a May 5 letter to shareholders, BioNitrogen Chairman and CEO Carlos Contreras reiterated that the plans for the construction of the Taylor County plant are proceeding well. “There is a significant level of engineering activity that is happening ‘behind the scenes’ that we are not at liberty to disclose. However, I can tell you that the Construction Air Permit application was submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on April 24th.” He also said that the Biomass Feasibility Study was completed and released, confirming the assessment that the supply of woody biomass in the Taylor County area is sufficient to meet BioNitrogen’s needs. He said those are two critical pieces of the project plan that had to be completed to allow for the continued progress towards completion of the engineering and EPC contracts.
Contreras said the engineering process related to Taylor County also applies to the Hendry County plant. “We have made significant progress in the permitting process, site analysis and site plan preparation,” he added. “The plans and evaluations for plant construction at Hendry County remain unchanged and have confirmed our expectations for the viability of the project.”
The Taylor County plant is in Perry, the Hendry in Clewiston.
Contreras said the company is diligently working at finalizing its audited financial statements, preparing all the required documentation for the up-listing from Pink Sheets to becoming a fully reporting entity. The company had a 52-week low of $0.01 per share on May 1, and has since bounced back to $0.02. The 52-week high is $0.08 per share.
While not mentioned in a while, BioNitrogen has also eyed Louisiana as a possible site for biomass-to-urea plants (GM March 17, 2014).