Mascoma nets $50m from Valero

Mascoma Corp., a Lebanon-based maker of cellulosic biofuels, has signed a letter of intent worth up to $50 million with Texas-based Valero Energy Corp., the country’s largest independent oil refiner, to build a wood-based biofuel refinery in Michigan.Valero also has entered an agreement for the project’s ethanol production. According to a release from Mascoma, the refinery could produce as much as 40 million gallons a year of low-carbon cellulosic ethanol from selectively harvested pulpwood by 2013.Funds from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and the U.S. Department of Energy also are being used to build the refining plant. Ground-breaking is slated for mid-2011.”Valero’s proposed investment in our first commercial-scale production facility proves the economic practicality of Mascoma’s technology for the conversion of woody biomass into ethanol,” said Bill Brady, chief executive of Mascoma. “We are also thrilled to have Valero as a shareholder in Mascoma Corp., as there are many synergies even beyond the Kinross facility, where the technologies we have developed could be helpful to Valero’s business.” – CINDY KIBBE/NEW HAMPSHIRE BUSINESS REVIEW