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TOMS RIVER, NJ-Future Fuels Inc. wants to build a 52-gallon waste-to-ethanol production plant near this Ocean County community. On the financial side, the Tulsa, OK-based company, a subsidiary of the Washington, DC-based Nuclear Solutions Inc., has gotten preliminary approval for $84 million worth of tax-exempt bond financing by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.

And while that bond financing does need to clear a few more hurdles, the preliminary approval does give the project a jumpstart. Official resolution approval by the state will enable FFI to move forward with the bond rating, with underwriting, as well as the placement process required to secure the funds. The funding will be used for the design, construction and start-up of a facility that FFI president Jack Young terms "the first of its kind."

"We intend to build several strategically located waste-to-ethanol plants in the US," Young says. He adds that his company is looking at sites in the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast.

FFI also recently signed an agreement to lease a six-acre site here for the plant. Terms of the signing, revealed in an 8K Informational Filing with the SEC, call for an initial 15-year term, renewal in 10-year increments up to another 90 years, in exchange for cash, equity and a 3% share of net profits. The lease agreement, with a local ownership group, also brings with it pre-approved state and local environmental permits to both operate the facility and store feedstock suitable for conversion into ethanol.

The funding and lease agreement "bring land, permits and feedstock into play in expediting the facility's development to meet increased market demand for alternative fuels," Young says. "Moreover, since one of the sources of feedstock is tires, we welcome the favorable consideration by the New Jersey Solid and Hazardous Waste Program Office toward our proposed facility, and toward our intended efforts to produce ethanol from waste products otherwise destined for landfills in a manner that has positive implications for the environment." Besides the plant's 52-million-gallon capacity, further details of the project, including its total cost, have not been released.

Instant Insights /

Future Fuels Proposes 52M-Gallon Waste-to-Ethanol Plant

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