May 13--Los Angeles-headquartered Rentech Inc. plans to build a plant in Rialto that will turn green waste such as yard clippings into clean-burning synthetic fuels.

Company officials said the construction of the Rialto facility is expected to create approximately 250 jobs. The plant is in the design phase and would create 55 permanent jobs when it is fully operating.

The Rialto Renewable Energy Center is designed to produce approximately 600 barrels per day of renewable synthetic fuels and to export approximately 35 megawatts of renewable electric power that will be sold to utilities -- an amount officials said can provide electricity for 30,000 homes.

Rentech President and CEO D. Hunt Ramsbottom said the Rialto plant will produce a "next generation" biofuel that does not compete with the food industry for materials. For instance, the use of corn and soy to make ethanol has driven up the cost of those materials in both the fuel and food marketplaces.

"This plant will be able to transform low-value waste streams into high-value green power and pure synthetic fuels that can be used in today's engines and distribution infrastructure," Ramsbottom said in a statement.

Officials said Rentech initiatives fit well with recently announced Obama administration programs offering funding and other incentives for developing renewable energy alternatives.

"We expect the Rialto project to be the prototype for many waste-to-fuels projects for Rentech," said Doug Miller, the company's executive vice president of renewable energy businesses, in the statement.

"These projects are being designed at smaller scale than fossil-based projects, and feedstock costs are low or negative, resulting in significant potential returns on investment," he said.

The primary material for the Rialto plant will be urban woody green waste such as yard clippings, for which Rentech is negotiating supply agreements. Officials said the project's location will provide local green waste haulers with a "cost-effective alternative" to scarce landfill.

The plant is designed to also use bio-solids for a portion of its production, expected to be provided under a supply agreement with EnerTech Environmental.

Rentech has an exclusive option on a site for the Rialto project within the proposed Rialto Eco-Industrial Park, being developed by EnerTech, located adjacent to an existing Rialto city wastewater treatment plant and an EnerTech bio-solids processing facility.

Rialto city planning manager Donn Montag said what Rentech is planning would likely complement energy-related proposals submitted by EnerTech for a site on the city's south side.

Rentech spokeswoman Julie Dawoodjee said the fuels plant would not be completed and operational until 2012.

-----

To see more of The Press-Enterprise or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.pe.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, The Press-Enterprise, Riverside, Calif.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

AMEX:RTK,

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.