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.

John Zavoral, CEO, commented, "We have been impressed with SynSel's vision to create biofuels from the abundant wood resources available in the Red River Valley. This is an exciting time for our company and Bemidji, as a whole, as we bring back great paying jobs and help revitalize our community."

"We are very appreciative of Zavoral's long-time partnership and belief in SynSel. Their leadership and construction guidance has been invaluable in our planning. We are both committed to delivering a SynSel biorefinery to the community of Bemidji, and this investment is an important step," shared Tim Tawoda, SynSel CEO.

The Bemidji biorefinery will be at the former site of the Ainsworth Lumber Co. oriented strand board mill. This mill permanently closed in 2009 resulting in 280 job losses to the community. The SynSel biorefinery will produce renewable transportation fuel using the same woody biomass used by the former mill. 

Regarding the environmental benefits of SynSel fuel, Tawoda explained, “While electric vehicles represent a 56% reduction in life-cycle greenhouse gas reductions compared to conventional vehicles, SynSel fuels represent life-cycle greenhouse gas reductions of over 90% using the same comparison.