STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, US — Verbio North America Holdings Corp. is acquiring South Bend Ethanol and plans to spend $230 million to develop it into a modern biorefinery.

“We are excited about the opportunity to integrate the production of ethanol with renewable natural gas (RNG) in the state of Indiana,” said Stefan Schreiber, executive board member for North America of Verbio AG, the German-based parent company. “We believe this transaction provides an excellent path for Verbio to further strengthen its North America business and growth strategy. The site offers a competitive location as well as existing infrastructure and meets our requirements for access to the natural gas grid, electricity, feedstock sources and water supply.”

This will be Verbio’s second US production facility following the commissioning of its Nevada, Iowa, US, plant.

Integration of the ethanol production with the RNG production process, unique to the Verbio brand and developed successfully at the company’s facilities in Europe over the past decade, will result in higher efficiencies and improved sustainability, the company said.

The site will be developed over the next three years incorporating Verbio’s advanced engineering and operating technology practices. The plant will be able to produce 85 million gallons of ethanol and 2.8 billion cubic feet of RNG per year.

Verbio will work to improve yields and reduce energy consumption of the ethanol plant during the next several months. The investment will incorporate additional equipment and processes necessary to produce value-added by-products, such as liquid fertilizers.

All of the facility’s 61 employees initially will be retained. Verbio plans to have 69 full-time employees by the end of 2025.

Verbio said it will continue to source the plant’s primary feedstock, 28 million bushels of corn, locally.

Upgrades will begin in the next several months with commercial production of RNG expected to begin in 2026.

Anaerobic digestion tanks will produce the RNG using stillage from ethanol production as a feedstock. Biogas produced in the tanks will be upgraded to pipeline quality RNG for injection into the gas distribution system serving the site.

After processing, liquid fertilizers and humus will be returned to the fields, completing the sustainability cycle, the company said.

“We see a continued strong demand for renewable energy solutions, especially in North American industrial process industries,” said Claus Sauter, founder and chief executive officer of the parent company Verbio AG. “This opens up promising economic perspectives for us and supports Verbio’s growth and internationalization strategy. Our renewable energy operations worldwide are built on our company’s 20-year-plus commitment to sustainability and technological innovation. We look forward to further expanding our business within North America as well as international in the coming years.”

Verbio North America is a subsidiary of Verbio Vereinigte BioEnergie AG (Verbio AG), with headquarters in Leipzig, Germany, a leading independent manufacturer of biofuels and bioenergy in Germany and Europe.

Throughout its global facilities, Verbio produces 3.5 Bcf of RNG, 198 million gallons of biodiesel and 100 million gallons of ethanol per year.