Bankrupt Pa. ethanol plant sold

A $270 million bankrupt Western Pennsylvania ethanol plant, Bionol Clearfield L.L.C., which opened in 2009 and shut down last year, has been sold to a Michigan agricultural company for $9.35 million, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

Pennsylvania Grain Processing L.L.C., an affiliate of Zeeland Farm Services Inc., announced Monday that the court had approved the purchase. The Clearfield plant can process up to 40 million bushels of grain per year into 110 million gallons of ethanol and 330,000 tons of dry distiller's grain, a livestock feed.

Bionol Clearfield, which was funded with $27 million in state grants and loans and with $67 million in tax-free bonds, declared bankruptcy after Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc., backed out of contracts to buy the fuel produced at the plant. The new buyers say they plan to restart the plant as soon as possible.

— Andrew Maykuth