AE Keyes expects to restart the Keyes plant and be fully operational by late April 2011. AE Keyes took possession of the facility under a project agreement with Cilion, Inc. in 2010. The revised project agreement extends the original lease from three to five years, with an early termination right at three years.

AE Biofuels intends to introduce its patent-pending enzyme-based cellulosic ethanol technology at the Keyes facility and other California ethanol plants in 2011.

AE Advanced Fuels Keyes also announced that it has signed a grain supply and services contract with J.D. Heiskell & Co. AE Keyes will market its wet distillers grains (WDG) through an agreement with A.L. Gilbert, and the company previously announced its ethanol marketing agreement with Kinergy Marketing LLC.

The Keyes plant has a 2.6:1 positive energy balance and near zero water discharge, according to the company. In addition, the plant’s natural gas and steam powered turbine cogeneration unit generates nearly all of the operating electric needs of the plant (4.3 MW), thus eliminating dependence on the state’s electrical grid.

AE Biofuels, Inc. is a global vertically integrated biofuels company based in Cupertino, California. The company is working to commercialize its patent-pending next-generation cellulosic ethanol technology that enables the production of biofuels from both non-food and traditional feedstocks. Its wholly-owned Universal Biofuels subsidiary built and operates a nameplate 50 million gallon per year biodiesel production facility on the east coast of India.