Mar 11 2010
The city of Indio in Riverside County has been selected by Golden State Biofuel to locate its first biofuel refinery in California. Designed to produce one million gallons per year, this scalable refinery will serve San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, the High Desert and Inland Empire areas.
Golden State Biofuel will use the Biodiesel Club model that it has developed to supply B99.9 biodiesel to its members. The company will also supply various blends of biodiesel to distributors and commercial accounts. The membership for the Biodiesel Club is slated to open in March with starting price of B99 biodiesel expected to be about $3.25 per gallon, which is competitively priced with petroleum diesel. The refinery is capable of utilizing multiple feedstocks to manufacture advanced biofuel with high quality properties. In addition, the refinery will also have an advanced blending terminal. The proposed refinery will utilize in-house developed proprietary refinery technology. The Indio refinery, which is in the permitting phase at present, is scheduled to commence production by mid-year.
A number of green jobs are expected to be created by the refinery in the state. Chief Operating Officer, Randall Lichner, said the company is expected to employ about 12 people at the refinery initially for various positions. The process for recruitment is set to begin. College students will be offered intern positions in addition to salaried positions for marketing, management, operations, technical and drivers.