MOU Executed for Fuel Pre-Purchase Agreement | March 26th, 2024

SynSel and Family Hope Ministries have inked a MOU for a Fuel Pre-Purchase Agreement for offtake at the Ontonagon Michigan and Bemidji Minnesota biorefinery sites. The fuel from each plant will be 27 million gallons per year of high-spec transportation fuels: ASTM D4814 (gasoline) and ASTM D975 (diesel). The underlying biomass-to-fuel technology is the process integration of pyrolysis and hydro-conversion – Hydropyrolysis. The fuel product is very stable, storable, and shippable. Michigan Technological University has calculated the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to be a 95% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil crude oil converted to transportation fuel. 

MOU Executed for Securing the Bemidji Biorefinery Site | FEBRUARY 15, 2024

SynSel and John and Pete Zavoral have executed a MOU to acquire the 350-acre parcel at the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Bemidji Minnesota. SynSel will utilize the land for deploying a closed loop biorefinery producing a drop-in renewable transportation fuel. The plant will be run by approximately 100 trained operators from the immediate area. 

The site was developed by the Potlatch Corporation in 1979 for producing oriented strand board (OSB). 

City of Alton Illinois aligns with COP28 | DECEMBER 18, 2023

COP28 (Conference of Partners) concluded in Dubai on December 12th. COP meets approximately once a year with a common agenda of global unity on the purposeful means of collaboration of controlling and limiting global warming. 

Nations at COP28 in Dubai approved earlier on Wednesday a roadmap for “transitioning away from fossil fuels” – a first for a UN climate conference – but the deal still stopped short of a long-demanded call for a “phaseout” of oil, coal and gas. -Source UN News https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/12/1144742 

MOU Executed for Securing the Ontonagon Biorefinery Site | OCTOBER 22, 2023

SynSel and Lost Bowl Development LLC have executed a MOU to either acquire the 135-acre parcel of land on the shores of Lake Superior or a long-term lease. SynSel will utilize the land for deploying a closed loop biorefinery producing a drop-in renewable transportation fuel. The plant will be run by approximately 100 trained operators from the immediate area. The site formerly hosted the Smurfit Stone paper mill. 

TEAMING AGREEMENT WITH CADA ENERGY | JULY 21, 2023

SynSel is proud to announce their affiliation with CADA Energy with the execution of a Teaming Agreement. 

SynSel’s Executive Administrator, Brian Buckta states, “I think CADA is a perfect complement to SynSel’s technical ability to integrate best in class biofuel technologies. The incentives (i.e. grants & tax credits) currently available to green fuel developers in the US and worldwide is unprecedented. Preparation and bandwidth to quickly respond to these opportunities is key, and CADA provides a world-class team of seasoned professionals with an impressive record of success in responding to these opportunities.”

Synsel Energy is proud to announce its new affiliation with the American Climate Club | JUNE 28, 2023

SynSel is proud to announce our affiliation with the newly formed American Climate Club (ACC), an NGO non-profit 501(c)(4).  The Paris Agreement was signed with the current Administration in January 2021. A key focus of the ACC is to work with the USA State Department such that the upside of the affiliation with the Paris Agreement is realized. 

SynSel Energy is proud to announce its new affiliation with John and Pete Zavoral | April 8, 2022

SynSel Energy is proud to announce its new affiliation with John and Pete Zavoral, a large earthmoving and construction company founded in 1951 in East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Zavoral is an early investor in SynSel and recently increased its ownership stake in the company.

SynSel Energy to develop biofuels plant in Frenchtown, MT | January 5, 2020

SynSel Energy, Inc. of Elk Grove Village, IL announced plans to develop a biorefinery in Frenchtown, MT on the former site of the Smurfit Stone pulp mill. The plant will produce 180,000 gallons per day of environmentally responsible advanced “tank ready” synthetic biofuels.

SynSel Energy to develop biofuels plant in Cairo, IL | FEBRUARY 11, 2019

SynSel Energy, Inc. of Elk Grove Village, IL announced plans to develop a biorefinery in Cairo, Illinois on the former site of a shuttered wood mill. SynSel will repurpose the same renewable wood feedstock formerly used by the wood mill, to produce 180,000 gallons per day of environmentally responsible advanced “tank ready” synthetic biofuels. 

Major Ontonagon improvements moving forward | Sep 13, 2018

ONTONAGON — The Ontonagon Economic Development Corporation (EDC) continues to see much needed major projects move forward.

The Wednesday meeting saw two new board members begin their leadership after appointment by the County Board last month.

Ontonagon Labor Day Parade welcomes SynSel | Sep 02, 2018

Ontonagon - The rains stopped in time Sunday for the 62nd annual Labor Day Festival parade in Ontonagon. The parade was a salute to SynSel Energy, which has announced it is building a bio-fuel plant in Ontonagon. The parade marshal was Tim Tawoda, the CEO of the company.

Ontonagon celebrates Labor Day with town's largest parade to date | September 4, 2018

"I think that's why people like to come to Ontonagon because the parade is so unusual, you never know what's going to show up," laughed Bill Chabot, Honorary co-chairman of Ontonagon's Labor Day Festival.

For 2018 more than 1,000 people took to the town's main streets for the 62nd annual Labor Day Parade. This year's is the largest parade to date.

Funding secured for biorefinery in Ontonagon | May 24, 2018

ONTONAGON, Mich. (WLUC) - SynSel Energy, Inc. of Elk Grove Village, IL has secured the funding for a state-of-the-art biorefinery in Ontonagon. SynSel is partnering with a US-based financier and Lost Bowl Development, LLC of Ontonagon to construct the $300 Million biorefinery. The plant will use proven, environmentally­ responsible technology to produce clean second-generation biofuels from the area's abundant pulp and waste wood.

10 Years After: Advanced Biofuels’ Status, Opportunities and Challenges | february 5, 2018

In the US, the EPA approved sorghum oil as a feedstock to produce RIN credit eligible biodiesel opening a lower cost raw material source. Ryze Renewables received a USDA guaranteed loan for $112 million for a biorefinery in Storey County, Nevada. The new refinery is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2019. Estimated capacity is 40 million gallons per year.

Biofuels plant development expected to begin at Ontonagon paper mill | January 11, 2018

Ontonagon - A public announcement of the construction and development of a $300 million advanced biofuels plant at the site of the closed paper mill in Ontonagon is "expected shortly," Pat Tucker told the Ontonagon County Economic Development Corporation Wednesday.

He indicated SynSel Energy's closing on the funds - which are already secured - is in the process now of being transferred into the appropriate accounts. He said the process has been "moving slowly with four countries involved," but is moving as planned.

SynSel Energy, Inc. Partners With a Private Lender to Fund 2 Biorefineries | August 19, 2017  

SynSel Energy, Inc. announced that they have executed a Term Sheet and Commitment Letter from a private lender to provide $600M in construction funding to build two $300M SynSel Biorefineries.  One plant will be located in Ontonagon, Michigan and one plant will be located in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.  SynSel CEO Tim Tawoda described the private lender's structure as a “non-traditional construction loan that requires the creation of a $75M Good Faith Account (GFA) for each biorefinery to meet lending covenants.”  

Top 10 wood waste projects – Not letting waste go to waste | September 30, 2017

Illinois – Wood-based biorefineries

We reported in July that Synsel hopes to finalize financing in the next few months for two $300 million wood-based biorefineries in Ontonagon, Mich. and Lumberton, Miss. that are meant to produce synthetic gasoline, diesel and aviation. The Ontonagon project aims to repurpose the mothballed Smurfit-Stone Paper Mill that was closed in 2010 but the Lumberton site was not identified. The licensor of the technology that will be employed at the biorefineries was only identified as a major oil and gas company.

Biofuels could boost Western UP | August 10, 2017

New biofuels could give the Upper Peninsula economy a boost.

"It's a good fit for the region. It's a game changer," said Pat Tucker of Lost Bowl Development.

Biofuels, which are fuels made directly from organic materials like wood or algae, will soon breathe life back into the former Smurfit-Stone Container paper mill in Ontonagon.

Biofuel plant construction set to begin | August 9, 2017

Thousands of construction workers could be employed next year to begin constructing a new biorefinery plant in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

“That should be happening soon,” said Brian Buckta, SynSel Energy senior vice-president administration. “Ontonagon will be one of the first, if not the first.”