A permit to construct an ethanol dehydration facility on the island of St. Croix has been granted to GeoNet Ethanol. The state-of-the-art ethanol plant, with more than 100 million gallon a year dehydration capacity, will be supplied by Dedini Industrias de Base, Piracicaba, Brazil. Demar Ltd, Houston, TX, will provide the engineering, procurement, project management, and construction supervision services for the dehydration unit. 

The GeoNet Ethanol dehydration unit will be located on the site of the former alumina plant in St. Croix, now owned by the St. Croix Renaissance Group LLLP and currently operated as an industrial park. The dehydration unit will utilize the site's existing infrastructure and utilities.

"I am glad we have successfully achieved this milestone of getting the necessary permit so we can begin construction of the dehydration unit," said J. Brent Baker, GeoNet Ethanol LLC president and chief executive officer. "I am looking forward to working with Dedini, Demar and the St. Croix Renaissance Group to complete the erection, commissioning and start-up of the unit during the fourth quarter of 2006."

The dehydration unit will produce fuel grade ethanol from renewable sources for sale as a gasoline additive in the U.S. market.