South Bend Ethanol Acquired; $230M Expansion Planned

The North American subsidiary of Germany-based Verbio AG acquired South Bend Ethanol LLC, Indiana’s first large-scale ethanol production plant. With plans to invest $230 million over the next three years, Verbio hopes to integrate existing ethanol production alongside producing renewable natural gas while developing and expanding the plant into a modern refinery. Once the plant is fully operational, Verbio expects it to produce 85 million gallons of corn ethanol annually and 2.8 billion cubic feet of RNG.

“Construction on the expansion is expected to begin in the next several months, with commercial RNG production slated to begin in 2026. Verbio said it will retain all 61 employees at the plant and plans to add eight more by the end of 2025.

Additionally, Verbio plans to continue procuring the 28 million bushels of corn it needs each year for ethanol production from local sources. Part of the expansion will include the installation of new equipment, including anaerobic digestion tanks used in the production of RNG. Verbio said it will use the stillage resulting from the ethanol production and use that as feedstock for RNG.”

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