SG Preston and IHI E&C enter EPC agreement for multiple renewable fuel plants

SG Preston, a Philadelphia-based bioenergy company, and IHI E&C, a Houston-based engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) subsidiary of IHI Corp., have announced an agreement for a multifacility program that will include the development and construction of a series of commercial volume, advanced biofuels manufacturing plants, initially in the U.S. Midwest and Canada.

The companies say the plants will use proven, commercial-scale technologies for the production of renewable diesel and jet fuel targeting U.S. and global industries seeking a volume-based, competitively priced solution to their environmental sustainability mandates.

“IHI E&C is a perfect fit for our U.S. and global strategic vision,” says R. Delbert LeTang, SG Preston president and chief executive officer. “The need to drive thought leadership and momentum toward tangible solutions in the U.S. alternative energy market has become a strategic imperative that we intend to lead in alliance with global blue chip partners in engineering and construction, technology and manufacturing.”

IHI E&C will serve as turnkey EPC to SG Preston’s biofuels initiative, delivering “lump sum,” fixed price engineering and construction, a first in the renewable diesel and jet fuels landscape at commercial scale.

“We have maintained our commitment to focused execution of our volume-based advanced biofuels plan,” LeTang says. “We are extremely pleased to launch this industry-changing initiative in coordination with IHI E&C as a part of our integrated system of global, blue chip partners to rapidly take strategy and concept into design, engineering and execution at commercial scale.”

“IHI E&C is tremendously excited to apply our program management expertise to this ground-breaking set of renewable fuels projects,” says IHI E&C President Glyn Rodgers. “We’re pleased to support SG Preston in pursuit of their far-reaching vision, extending engineering, procurement and construction services from our Houston base of operations.”

SG Preston will deploy its biofuels strategy initially at five plants (South Point and Van Wert Ohio, Logansport, Indiana, and two additional, to-be-announced sites, one in Michigan, and one in Ontario, Canada), each with an initial capacity to produce 120 million gallons of renewable diesel and jet fuel annually. Each facility will have a positive economic impact on the local community, in both the near term during construction of the facilities and longer term throughout their operation. 

Social and market forces, including tighter regulation of carbon-emitting industries, worldwide demand for growth in clean fuels, and a growing need to reduce CO2 emissions and reduce the amount of waste produced, have combined to drive the SG Preston initiative.

SG Preston’s business model integrates bioenergy development and a market service strategy into existing delivery systems for energy supply and development across the entire value chain. 

“We are combining existing technology and infrastructure in new ways, and on a larger scale than ever before to help global industry meet its demand for more environmentally friendly energy and fuels,” said Dwayne Brown, SG Preston Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives.

IHI E&C will steward and guide SG Preston’s multifacility program to create and standardize replication benefits in engineering and design targeted at delivering volume quantities of advanced renewable diesel and jet fuel to global market customers in an abbreviated timeframe. This highly efficient development strategy will include abbreviated estimate development and synergies in procurement, construction, commissioning, and plant start-up.

In addition to applying its thought leadership to fuels in the public and private transportation, manufacturing and utilities industries, commercial and military aviation is among SG Preston’s target markets.

The aviation industry's focus on renewable fuels is driven by increasingly stringent environmental mandates, and the need to deliver more environmentally friendly fuels, all while facing blending challenges, commodity pricing volatility to their primary fuels, risks to transportation infrastructure, logistics, and physical capacity constraints.

SG Preston will provide immediate partnering solutions to the global aviation industry, with targeted, competitive value-added market offerings.