Fram Renewable Fuels purchases former SEGA Biofuels pellet plant

Archer Forest Products, a division of Fram Renewable Fuels, has acquired an idle pellet plant in Brantley County, Georgia, and is working to restart the facility. Operations at the 120,000-million-ton-per-year plant are expected to resume in November.

Harold Arnold, president of Fram Renewable Fuels, explains that Archer Forest Products has purchased the pellet plant out of bankruptcy. The facility was previously owned by SEGA Biofuels.

According to Arnold, the facility has been idle for 2.5 years. As part of the effort to bring the plant back online, he said all the systems and wiring have to be checked. He also noted the company is making some improvements to the raw material handling and pellet load out systems before the facility resumes operations. The plant is currently expected to being operations in November.

Arnold said pellets produced at the Archer Forest Products pellet plant will be sold into markets his company already has contracted. While the initial production capacity of the plant is expected to be 120,000-tons-per-year, he noted that the company may increase the production capacity of the plant during the second or third year of operations.

With this acquisition, Fram Renewable Fuels now owns four pellet plants, all located in Georgia. This includes the 200,000-ton-per-year Appling County Pellets LLC facility, the 500,000-ton-per-year Hazlehurst Wood Pellets LLC plant, and the 136,100-ton-per-year Telfair Forest Products LLC facility. According to Arnold, Fram Renewable Fuels currently has no plans to add any additional pellet plants to its operations.

Information released by the Georgia Department of Economic Development indicates Archer Forest Products’ acquisition of the former SEGA Biofuels pellet mill will create 35 jobs while investing $15 million in Brantley County.