Site is priority for incubator company

By Nick Todaro
June 5, 2007

The day that a business incubating at Louisiana Tech University takes root and makes an impact locally could come sooner than many think.

Baton Rouge-based Avoyelles Renewable Fuels Inc. has indicated interest in locating a manufacturing facility in northern Louisiana in the next year, possibly in Ruston or Monroe.

The company needs to mass-produce a nanocatalyst created by Tech student Josh Brown and professor Chester Wilson in order to produce their brand of biodiesel fuel.
Avoyelles president Ron Skains, a Tech graduate, said there is no question that a manufacturing site for the catalyst is a priority — the goal is to be cranking out fuel by 2008.

Details are sketchy. Projections for employment needs, pay and space requirements are not available yet, he said.

However, Ruston and Monroe are top contenders for a location because of their proximity to Tech.

"We're moving real fast," Skains said.

Initially, the plant could employ a couple of dozen, he said, but the company envisions it growing. The amount of catalyst the company requires depends on how much fuel they aim to refine. The company wants to produce a pilot plant and two commercial plants in southern Louisiana soon.

Skains said that the fuel can fill a "sizeable niche" in the massive global market of liquid fuels and that alternatives to petroleum are becoming viable business models.

"The world has reached a fork in the road" and needs to address alternatives to foreign oil, Skains said.

Ultimately, Avoyelles could require a facility about the size of an automobile manufacturing plant, Wilson said.

"It could be the single largest nanomanufacturing facility in the world, by weight and by dollars," Wilson said.

Regional chamber of commerce officials and economic development groups are ready to discuss details with Avoyelles once the needs for the facility are determined.

Ouachita Economic Development Corp. would "certainly try to accommodate them" if Avoyelles wanted to locate in the parish, said Pat Regan, interim OEDC chairman.

Sue Edmunds, head of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, said the company's interests align with state target areas on high technology and advanced materials.

High-wage, high-benefit jobs created in the technology company fit the scope of what Monroe needs, Edmunds said.

Scott Terry, president of the Ruston-Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, said several sites would be available to be developed for manufacturing operations around Tech.