Biofuels firm eyeing Fremont

By Don Bowen/Tribune Staff
Monday, Oct 15, 2007 - 11:27:48 am CDT
Fremonters soon could see a little more activity east of U.S. Highway 77 on the north side of town.

Owners of Mobius BioFuels are hoping to start construction of the company’s first biodiesel plant this spring on a 29-acre site south of County Road T, just north of the Fremont and Elkhorn Valley Railroad tracks, said co-owner Robert Buscher Jr.

That is, if the company can generate enough finances to begin construction.

“We’re still in the investment phase,” said Buscher, adding that he and partner Jim Mainelli hope to wrap up within the next couple of months.

If the timeline holds true, Buscher said the 10 million-gallon-per-year facility would be operating after about one year of construction with 12 jobs.

Eventually, he said, those numbers would increase to 20 jobs with a 30 million-gallon-per-year facility.

“We anticipate that expansion to take place in about five years,” he said.

The jobs would be clerical, laboratory technician, maintenance, technical operator and dock loaders. Buscher would be general manager of the plant early on.

“It will be a very automated system,” he said. “The whole system will be controlled by computers. It will run

24 hours a day in three shifts, but we will only have truck traffic in and out in the daytime. We want to keep truck traffic to a minimum at night.

“This is going to be a $16 million project. It’s going to be a first-class, nice-looking plant,” he said.

While eastern Nebraska is dotted with ethanol plants, by the time the Mobius BioFuels plant opens in Fremont it will be the third biodiesel plant in the state. The largest of the three plants is in Scribner. A plant in Beatrice is set to begin production soon.

But there are differences between biodiesel and ethanol, he said. While ethanol is largely produced from corn and soybeans, biodiesel can be produced using much less vegetable crop because it also uses a large amount of animal fats.

“But the nice thing about biodiesel is that you don’t have to do anything to a vehicle to use it,” said Buscher, who drove out to their lot just south of Frontier Cooperative recently in his newer model Dodge heavy duty four-wheel drive pickup truck. “The stuff I use in my truck I made in my garage.”

This isn’t a new concept for Buscher and his partner. He said they’ve been talking about this possibility for three years now.

“We were sitting around talking about this one day,” Buscher said. “Then I bought my own little home kit and started making biodiesel at home. I’ve been researching this for three years.”

But the idea didn’t just appear out of the blue, he said, a third generation owner of an Omaha slaughter house, John Roth & Son.

“That’s kind of where the idea came from because we are always looking for ways to use the animal fat produced at our plant,” Buscher continued. The animal fat can be boiled into a liquid that can be used with vegetable oils to produce biodiesel.

Kevin Wilkins, executive director for the Greater Fremont Development Council, said that makes Fremont a perfect fit.

“We’ve been working with Mobius over the past few years on their project,” Wilkins said. “In terms of value added agriculture and renewable energy, biodiesel seems like an even more plausible way to grow our own source of energy. We are strategically located for a source for animal fats. It just made sense to me in terms of entering the renewable fuel market. Biodiesel was a good fit for Fremont.”

Mobius BioFuels also seemed like a good fit.

“They are a Nebraska company, locally owned. Most of their investors come out of the Omaha region. They’ve done their homework, researching the market and raw material supplies,” Wilkins said.

Buscher said Fremont was one of four locations company officials were considering, including sites in Omaha, Wahoo and Council Bluffs, Iowa.

He said Fremont just stood out.

“There are a lot of sources there with Hormel, ADM, other local meat plants and there is great access to rails,” he said, adding that the site of the plant is near the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway tracks. “We’re a Nebraska company. We wanted to stay here. Fremont is a perfect location for us.”

Proposed Biodiesel Plant List -

Mobius BioFuels
Location: Fremont, Nebraska
Target groundbreaking: undeclared
Feedstock: multi-feedstock
Capacity: 10 MMgy
Process technology: undeclared
Synopsis: Mobius spokesman Bob Buscher Jr. says a technology provider is being sought for this modular project. The plant would be expandable to 30 MMgy. A feasibility study is complete, and a feedstock procurement plan is being finalized.