The first steps in a merger dance?

BEST Energies & Sanimax Join Forces to Create Major Biodiesel Enterprise
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 12/10/2007

Wisconsin's two largest biodiesel companies are partnering to bring the state's second largest biodiesel plant on-line before the end of the year. BEST Energies Inc. is beginning start-up of a new 10 million gallon biodiesel plant located in Cashton with new partner Sanimax Energy. BEST Energies will operate the facility, while Sanimax Energy will market all of the production. Sanimax also operates a 20 million gallon plant in DeForest.

The Cashton facility will be using primarily by-product corn oil from ethanol production and other crude feedstocks in its proprietary technology platform.

Sanimax fired up their DeForest plant in May 2007, with plans to produce the alternative fuel from a variety of feedstocks, including recycled restaurant oil from the Sanimax Grease facility next door. Sanimax President and CEO Mike Langenhorst says the 15,000 square-foot plant uses a patented multi-feedstock technology developed by Nova Biosource Fuels to transform recycled cooking grease, rendered animal fats and vegetable oils into high-quality, clean burning biodiesel fuel. They have the capacity to produce about 20 million gallons per year.

Meanwhile, the Cashton project kicked off a year ago in the city's Greens Business Park. At that time, BEST Energies also hoped to begin producing electricity by late 2007 using synthetic gas made from manure and sawdust at a pyrolysis unit that would be built near the biodiesel plant.