JACKSON – KiOR, a Pasadena, Texas-based company, says it is a step closer to receiving federal loan guarantees to build four biofuel refineries — two in Mississippi and one each in Georgia and Texas.
The announcement of the $1 billion term sheet for loan guarantees through the U.S. Department of Energy came Thursday.
KiOR officials said the money will be used to build in Newton and in southwest Mississippi.
Last summer, the Mississippi Legislature approved an incentive package that included a $75 million loan.
KiOR officials have said their first-in-the-world project would convert timber products to a crude oil substitute. The company has said it has been testing its biomass production process in Texas for more than a year.
KiOR pledged to eventually build three more plants in Mississippi, one in Columbus where construction has started.
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