Mission on track for second biodiesel plant

Australia-based Mission NewEnergy Ltd. announced that it has secured debt funding for its second biodiesel refinery in Malaysia just as it revised the plant’s commissioning start-up date. “The company is in advanced discussions with potential customers and anticipates its second facility to operate at near full capacity in 2009,” Mission said. It explained that it will need around US$20 million to complete the facility, to be met by either further equity capital or a long-term debt. The company said commissioning of the 250,000 ton per year (tpy) plant has been scheduled for the end of March, four months later than expected. In the meantime, it will continue exporting biodiesel from its existing 100,000 tpy facility in Malaysia. In a statement, Mission said it has a deal that will see it sell its products on a cost-plus-margin basis, which will essentially lock in profits over its variable feedstock costs and protect it from the kind of volatility in commodities markets that pushed many biodiesel producers to the brink of collapse in 2007 and 2008. (February 2, 2009)