Tyson, Syntroleum expect biofuel plant to resume production soon

Tyson Foods' renewable fuel plant in Geismar, La., has been idle for the past six months, but production is expected to resume soon.

Syntroleum Corp.,Tyson's partner in the joint venture Dynamic Fuels, said a new catalyst was ordered in February with an expected delivery for late June, The City Wire reported. "We anticipate a restart of the Geismar plant in mid to late July," said Gary Roth, CEO of Syntroleum, during the company's conference call on May 8.

He said the new catalyst will increase the diesel yields up to 80 percent over the system previously used. Roth estimates 2012's revenues of $4.09 per gallon would have been worth $4.55 per gallon if the new catalyst had been in place at that time, a difference of $13 million in total.

"Rather than interrupt the feedstock supply chain, we believe the better alternative is to defer operations until installation of the new catalyst," said Roth.