MOU Executed for Securing the Bemidji Biorefinery Site

February 15, 2024

SynSel and John & 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). In 1992 Potlatch completed the addition of a 12.5MW combined heat & power (CHP) plant. In 2004 the site and assets were sold to Ainsworth Corp of Canada and operated as an OSB mill for 5 years. In 2006 the OSB mill operated at a lower capacity as production was shifted to more economically efficient plants in southern USA. As related in SYNSEL IN THE NEWS April 2022, the mill announced permanent closure of the facility in January 2009 with a loss of 280 jobs to the region. In May 2017 John & Pete Zavoral purchased the property and 523,000 square feet of buildings. Since that time, delinquent structures have been removed and the property upgraded for repurposing. SynSel has been in communications with John & Pete Zavoral since 2018 about repurposing the site for a SynSel biorefinery.  

In September 2023 SYNSEL IN THE NEWS announced our Master Developer Agreement with UYM Charities. Since that time the business relationship has evolved into Prepurchase Fuel Agreement for high-spec transportation fuels: ASTM D4814 (gasoline) and ASTM D975 (diesel). The Agreement covers approximately 27 million gallons per year of high-grade renewable drop-in fuel produced at the Bemidji Minnesota site. 

SynSel CEO Tim Tawoda states “To be clear, the fuel to be produced in Bemidji SynSel biorefinery is not ethanol or biodiesel. But rather high-value fuel that does not need to be blended with fossil fuels. The fuel drops directly into the internal combustion engine (ICE) with the car in your driveway. No engine modifications are made. The SynSel environmental profile is much greener than creating and operating a new EV (electric vehicle) running on a chemical battery. Americans want a reliable car platform that works in cold and hot weather – and a better climate option than the EV.”

The SynSel Bemidji biorefinery will follow in the heels of the Ontonagon Michigan (SYNSEL IN THE NEWS October 2023) biorefinery. The fuel offtake for Ontonagon biorefinery is also included in the UYM Charities Prepurchase Fuel Agreement. SynSel is in conversations with an EPC (Engineer, Permit, Construct) to move the project forward as a very substantial jobs creation and sustainable environment initiative for this economically distressed region of Minnesota.