Executive Summary

The San Juan Bioenergy (SJB) – Dove Creek facility offers the prospective buyer a unique and rare opportunity to acquire a newly constructed and strategically placed expeller pressed oil seed facility in the heart of a developing oil seed region. Located in Dove Creek Colorado, this fully operational plant is in the heart of 100,000 acres of dry land and irrigated ground in SW Colorado and SE Utah and is capable of crushing 10,000 tons of oil seed feedstock per year. Through five years of effort, SJB has established sunflower and safflower as a significant rotational crop along with the traditional beans, wheat, and hay.

The plant construction was completed in 2008 and in January of 2009 the first sunflower oil orders were shipped. Since then SJB has established a reliable customer base in the food oil market for both conventional and organic crude sunflower and safflower oils, and in the dairy market for the resulting meal. The nearest seed crush facility is in Lamar Colorado, over 430 miles to the east, thus providing SJB with a captive grower base in the immediate and surrounding regions.

SJB is a closely held LLC that was initially started to develop a feedstock (sunflower and safflower oil) for a biodiesel plant. Because of changes in the biodiesel market, and the troubled economy, the management smartly focused on the vegetable oil business and put the biodiesel component of the project on hold. By changing the initial business model, SJB has been able to optimize the seed crush portion of the business and weather the low commodity prices and economic storm.

As part of SJB’s initial business plan related to renewable energy, a gasifier was installed which currently converts the sunflower hulls and agricultural dockage to a syngas that is used to help heat and power the plant thereby reducing utility costs. By taking what is tuypically a waste stream (hulls and dockage in SJB’s case) and converting it to clean energy, SJB is leading the way in what the company believes will someday be a standard component of agricultural production facilities.

The majority of LLC members initially invested in SJB because of the renewable energy focus of the project. Because of the current focus on the plant as an oil seed crush facility, a majority of the members have expressed a desire to sell the company. This will allow the membership to redirect their equity back into renewable energy. With the heavy lifting done in developing farmer relations, plant construction, market development, and the renewable energy component, SJB offers a significant and unique opportunity to maximize the region's considerable agricultural potential, while at the same time paving the way for more energy efficient agricultural facilities. SJB believes this is a model for many agricultural processing plants as we prepare for the energy challenges of the future.

The Opportunity

• San Juan Bioenergy offers the following:

  • Established and running expeller pressed oil seed facility with significant infrastructure in place
  • Facility capacity currently at 10,000 tons per year with significant room for expansion
  • Plant has a broad capacity for most oil seed feedstocks – sunflower, saflfower, canola, semolina
  • Second building ready for expansion or new projects
  • Significant research and support through the Colorado State University Extension Office. The Director, Dan Fernandez is on the SJB Board of Directors
  • National, state, and regional political and economic development support
  • Developed customer base in organic and conventional oil and meal markets
  • An established grower base, with opportunity for significant expanded acreage
  • No regional competing seed crush facilities, i.e. captive grower base • 100,000 irrigated and dry land acres surrounding Dove Creek
  • Potential additional significant grower base:
  
  •     • 15,000 newly developed irrigated acreage near Green River, UT to the northeast
  •     • 20,000 acres of irrigated ground in the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry to the south
  •     • 100,000 acres of irrigated ground in the San Luis Valley to the east of Dove Creek of which several thousand acres are currently in sunflower production 
  • Operating gasifier that generates process heat to significantly reduce energy costs while utilizing plant waste

 

For additional information please contact:

Erich Bussian
970-946-4342
erich@sanjuanbioenergy.com