GILLETTE - A Wyoming-based start-up company plans to build a 30 million-gallons-per-year biodiesel plant in Campbell County.

It would be the first-ever biodiesel plant in the state and among the largest in the nation. It would also create a new opportunity for Wyoming farmers to grow camelina, canola, brown mustard and other oil seed crops.

Wyoming Biodiesel Co., a subsidiary of Sheridan-based Energy Fuel Dynamics LLC, says it is working with a "strategic partner" to power the facility using waste steam. Construction could begin next spring, said business development manager Jim Kintz.

Estimated cost to build the plant is from $35 million to $40 million.

"Once the plant was announced, people wanted to buy all of our production," Kintz said.

Biodiesel is produced through a chemical process separating glycerin from fat or vegetable oil. The biodegradable, nontoxic fuel can be blended with petroleum-based diesel and used in almost any diesel engine with little or no modification, according to the National Biodiesel Board, a national trade association representing the industry.

The biodiesel production process also generates a high-protein cattle feed by-product.

"Our goal is to maximize the use of Wyoming resources for feedstock, building state-of-the-art production refinement facilities, expanding employment opportunities statewide and consumption of the produced bio-fuels," Kintz said.

Energy reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dustin.bleizeffer@casperstartribune.net.