Renewable Energy Group (REG) is the new owner of the SoyMor Biodiesel LLC facilities located in Albert Lea, Minn. The purchase included SoyMor’s biodiesel plant as well as its soy lecithin facility. The 30 million gallon per year (mmgy) biodiesel plant has been idle since 2008 and REG is already in the process of hiring 20 full-time employees for the various positions including administration, plant operators and load-out staff.

“Renewable Energy Group is proud to add this production-proven, strategically-located facility to our network of owned and operated biorefineries,” said REG’s CEO Jeff Stroburg. “With nationwide demand for biodiesel growing steadily through implementation of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) and Minnesota’s continued biodiesel consumption leadership, we expect to quickly ramp up production at REG Albert Lea, LLC.”

REG is currently the country’s largest biodiesel producer and this addition brings the company’s annual biodiesel nameplate production capacity to more than 210 mmgy. Prior to the purchase of SoyMor, REG was the contractor and manager for the 30 mmgy refined vegetable oil feedstock biodiesel facility that began production in April 2005. As part of its strategy, REG will upgrade the plant’s technology to enable the facility to produce biodiesel from a multitude of feedstocks such as lower cost natural fats and oils including used cooking oil and inedible corn oil produced by corn ethanol plants.

Stroburg added, “With a foundation in agriculture and expertise in domestically-produced, renewable energy, REG is proud to bring green-collar jobs to this rural economy while supporting ag producers in Minnesota and across the Midwest. Our REG manufacturing team is already on-site at the facility to re-start the biodiesel process in order to have high quality, REG-9000® biodiesel available in the market very soon.”