Agri Process Innovations Starts Up its Twenty Second Biodiesel Plant

SHERWOOD, AR, May 12, 2012 (Press-News.org) Lake Providence, LA: Veteran biodiesel plant design, fabrication and installation company, Agri Process Innovations of Stuttgart, Arkansas, is pleased to announce the startup Oswalt Bioenergy of Lake Providence, Louisiana. This marks the twenty second biodiesel plant opened by Agri Process Innovations, whose chemical engineer, Brian Mattingly, led the startup for the Louisiana company. Mattingly said that this startup, which was completed in only 7 days, went smoothly, largely due to good planning and coordination between APInnovations and Oswalt Bioenergy. "We checked all of our instruments, motors, and control loops prior to startup, and Oswalt had everything we needed on site and ready to go".

Oswalt Bioenergy is owned by Sonny Oswalt, and managed by his son, Hal Oswalt. Both are pleased with the plant's startup and the timing. Hal Oswalt notes an ongoing demand for biodiesel pursuant to RFS2, and says that a lack of plants in his immediate area region helped make the decision to move forward with this five million gallon per year, multi feedstock plant. He is emphatic about enlisting the proper support as one of the keys to success. "When we started this process, we selected Agri Process Innovations because we found them to be the most experienced engineering group in the industry and the ones whose technology was the most tried and tested". Oswalt noted that Agri Process Innovations built the plant for them, and that as the installation operations moved forward, Mattingly and others from Agri Process Innovations spent lots of time at the plant making sure things were installed properly. When the Oswalts made the decision to start operations, the use of experienced professionals and proven technology appears to have paid off. "In six days, we were up and running at full nameplate capacity with a product that passed all our testing," says Hal Oswalt. He noted that they had heard all the stories of plants that were continually failing one or more product tests, or that had problems with technology, but found none of that to be true in his case. "I guess when you hire a group that done this almost two dozen times, the process is more likely to flow more smoothly".

The Oswalts used the Feedstock Financing Program offered by INTL FCStone Inc.'s wholly owned subsidiary FCStone Merchant Services, LLC allowing the plant to operate at full capacity. INTL FCStone Inc. provides a wide variety of risk management services to assist plant operators in managing and maximizing plant profit margins. "The past five years in the biodiesel industry have been extremely volatile" says Nate Burk of FCStone Merchant Services' Renewable Fuels Group. He notes that the ongoing growth of the biodiesel industry speaks volumes to the dedication and commitment of companies like Oswalt Bioenergy. "FCStone Merchant Services is pleased to have the opportunity to work with the Oswalts during their initial start-up and we look forward to a long lasting relationship," says Burk.

Hal Oswalt indicates that his goal is to have Oswalt Bioenergy ready to sell biodiesel very soon, noting that they still have some registrations, RIN training, and other matters to attend to first. He notes that in this season when other plants seem to be shutting down, he sees a very attractive marketplace, and says that they are going to adhere to original plan of hiring only experienced industry professionals. "We have spoken to Lee Enterprises Consulting, about assisting us in several of the endeavors we have left," he says. "They are the largest alternative fuels consulting group and they have specialists that can help us with virtually everything else we need, so I think we are in pretty good hands all the way around".

ABOUT AGRI PROCESS INNOVATIONS: AP Innovations is a full service design and engineering company. Danforth and Shook are engineers with 50 years of combined experience in oil processing. Biodiesel production is one division of APInnovations' business. AP Innovations has clients on six continents and are recognized experts in both the biodiesel and oilseed processing industries. APInnovations, Inc., 1012 East 22nd Street, Stuttgart, AR 72160. (870.673.3030) http://www.apinnovations.com

ABOUT OSWALT BIOENERGY: Oswalt Bioenergy is a five million gallon per year biodiesel production facility in Lake Providence, Louisiana, near the Mississippi River. This northeast Louisiana facility utilizes a proven transesterification process and is capable of running multiple feedstocks simultaneously. Oswalt Bioenergy, 1010 Highway 134, Lake Providence, LA 71254. Contact Hal Oswalt. Phone: (318).669.2095.

ABOUT FCSTONE MERCHANT SERVICES, LLC: FCStone Merchant Services, LLC is a subsidiary of INTL FCStone Inc. and provides feedstock financing for plants which helps them produce at maximum capacity. The company's Renewable Fuels Group provides expertise that covers the entire spectrum of activities related to renewable fuels, ranging from a full understanding of both inputs -grains, oilseeds/fats and energy - and outputs including ethanol, biodiesel, DDGS, and glycerin. INTL FCStone's proprietary database and historical knowledge provide customers with a huge competitive advantage, and our risk-management programs focus on building the crush margins needed to operate successful renewable fuels plants. http://www.intlfcstone.com

ABOUT LEE ENTERPRISES CONSULTING, INC: Lee Enterprises is the world's largest alternative and renewable fuels consulting firm. The group handles biodiesel, ethanol, biomass, wind, solar, waste to energy, and geothermal projects, and offers a wide range of services worldwide, from initial planning and feasibility assessment, through project oversight, design, fabrication, installation and start-up. The group's consultants and strategic partners represent the top talent in alternative and renewable fuels, and these experts handle almost every aspect of a project. The group also owns National Business Brokerage, Inc., a full service business brokerage firm specializing in the buying and selling of alternative and renewable fuels plants. Lee Enterprises, 1503 East Kiehl Ave., Sherwood, AR 72120. (501) 833-8511. http://www.lee-enterprises.com.