Flint Hills Resources to Idle Nebraska Biodiesel Plant

Chemicals and fuels producer and marketer Flint Hills Resources revealed plans this week to idle its Duonix biodiesel production facility in Beatrice, NE, impacting about 40 workers at the site, the Associated Press and several local news organizations reported. The plant is slated to close this month. 

Low soybean prices were a major driver behind the company’s decision to halt production at the site. Flint Hills Resources said in a statement printed by the Beatrice Daily Sun that the current soybean market conditions have resulted in a “significant competitive disadvantage.”

“Folks should know the workforce did everything they could to make the plant work, but economic headwinds were too strong,” Flint Hills Resources Community Relations Specialist Michael Wilhelmi told the Daily Sun.

Opened in 2016, the Beatrice biodiesel plant has an annual capacity of 50 million gal of biodiesel. The site uses ENSEL technology, which processes lower cost feedstocks like recycled cooking oil into biodiesel. 

The 40 impacted workers will be offered severance packages, according to the newspaper’s coverage. 

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