Wednesday, June 21, 2006
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/274677_imperium21.htmlSeattle's Imperium Renewables plans to rule biodiesel
By ROB DIETERICH
BLOOMBERG NEWS
Imperium Renewables, a 2-year-old Seattle company backed by billionaire Paul Allen, plans to control 40 percent of the growing U.S. market for diesel fuel made from vegetable oil by 2009.
Imperium said last month that it will build a plant in Grays Harbor that will be the largest biodiesel refinery in the U.S. The plant, set to open a year from now, will make 100 million gallons a year. Three more of that size are planned by the end of 2008, Imperium Chief Executive Martin Tobias said Monday.
The U.S. last year produced about 75 million gallons of biodiesel, which is made mostly from soybeans, according to the National Biodiesel Board, a trade group in Jefferson City, Mo. Output will reach 1 billion gallons a year by 2009, Tobias said.
"We're probably the most optimistic biodiesel producer in the country right now," said Tobias, the founder of Loudeye Corp., a company that provides technology for Internet audio and video downloads. "We're building a 100 million-gallon refinery when last year the entire market was 75 million gallons."
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