The Duonix Biodiesel plant is shutting down, according to company officials and Gage Area Growth Enterprise, which was notified of the decision on Monday.

The plant was a joint project of Flint Hills Resources and Benefuel…..the first commercial-scale application of a technology converting a variety of feed stocks into biodiesel. It began full operation in September, 2016. Flint Hills Resources, a subsidiary of Koch Industries of Wichita, bought the plant in 2011. Flint Hills and Benefuel announced their joint venture in May of 2013, naming the plant, Duonix, LLC.

Executive Director of Gage Area Growth Enterprise (NGage), Walker Zulkoski says the plant at the west edge of the Gage County Industrial Park employed about 40-to-50. "They were at about ninety percent of capacity so the plant was doing very well. I think it wasn't anything about what the plant was doing and even about its' potential. It truly came down to a decision in the market place....whether they were going to have a place to sell their product, even if they could produce as much as they possibly could", Zulkoski said.

Zulkoski says he believes the plant was the last operating biodiesel plant in Nebraska. At the time of the joint project, Flint Hills had a second biodiesel plant in Euless, Texas. The Beatrice plant went through a major retrofitting to produce biodiesel. Zulkoski says millions of dollars were spent through the joint venture to customize the plant. He called it "a key vessel of our industrial park".

Zulkoski says some employees at the facility also worked at a Flint Hills plant in Fairmont. He says he hopes the area can retain the company employees in other job openings. He says the decision to cease operations has ripple effects.

Along with producing 50 million gallons of biodiesel annually, the plant could produce byproducts, including glycerin……used as a food additive and a compound found in several medical, pharmaceutical and personal care products.

Constructed in 2008 under the name Beatrice Biodiesel, the facility went through bankruptcy and stood idle for several years, before the Flint Hills and Benefuel joint venture was announced.