RiceBran Technologies, a
prominent player in the production and marketing of value added products
derived from rice bran worldwide, distributed a status update on the plant
expansion projects underway at it’s rice bran oil bio-refining subsidiary
Irgovel – Industria Riograndense de Oleos Vegetais Ltda., based out of Pelotas,
Brazil.
It was previously announced
that RiceBran Technologies planned on directing a substantial percentage of the
proceeds of its recent equity raise to boost capital at Irgovel. This
additional funding will be put towards the completion of the final phase of a
series of projects designed to enhance and expand all aspects of RBT’s bran
bio-refining facility including an increase in raw rice bran (RRB) processing
capacity at Irgovel to over 9,000 metric tons per month from a previous maximum
of 6,000 metric tons. The entire suite of expansion and upgrade projects,
described by management as the Phase 1 Projects, was a direct result of the
swelling global demand for rice bran oil due to its known health benefits and
attractive functional attributes, such as a high smoke point in frying.
The final and critical factor
of the Phase 1 Projects is the upgrading and expansion of the crude oil
extraction facility. In this plant, crude rice bran oil is extracted from the
RRB prior to entering the refining process. Another part of Phase 1 is the
installation of a cutting edge desolventizer/toaster (DT), condensors and
related equipment. Operations were put on hold January 16, 2014 at Irgovel in
order to complete the final phase. The facility is expected to be fully
operational, including the increased capacity, by the end of March, and orders
for increased rice bran oil are already in place. Management anticipates strong
demand for its rice bran oil to continue in the future.
W. John Short, CEO &
President of RBT and Chairman of the Management Committee at Irgovel commented
“We expect to complete this important expansion project by the end of the first
quarter. In the second quarter, we plan to restart the plant and debug the new
equipment as we ramp up production to hit planned capacity of more than 9,000
metric tons per month in the second half of 2014. Based on new orders already
placed for our increased rice bran oil capacity and inquiries from both current
and new customers, we are confident that demand for our degummed, dewaxed,
neutralized and fully refined rice bran oil products will remain strong for the
foreseeable future.”
Short continued, “While the
expansion will result in a short term reduction in shipments at Irgovel, we
believe the significant economic benefits of this expansion in the second half
of 2014 will result in improved overall sales and margin performance at Irgovel
compared to 2013. We anticipate the full effect of the expansion will lead to
significant improvements in financial performance in 2015 and beyond.”
In addition to increasing
RRB processing capacity by more than 50%, the project phases completed over the
past 15 months include: upgrading the on-site water treatment plant;
installation of a new, more efficient boiler that burns rice hulls to provide
steam needed for operations; drilling of three wells on site to provide the
necessary water sources for boiler operation; installation and upgrading of
electrical systems including a new power substation; construction of new
buildings and installation of a new system for receiving and storing raw rice
bran; installation of new technology for cleaning and extruding raw rice bran
expected to increase quality and productivity of oil extraction; construction
of a new, state-of-the-art animal nutrition plant that allows both wet and dry
blending of compounded animal feed aimed at domestic and international markets
for dairy and beef cattle, swine, sheep and equine markets among others;
installation of rice lecithin extraction equipment; and the upgrade and 50%
capacity expansion of the free fatty acid distilling plant.
For further information,
please visit www.ricebrantech.com
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