Delek idles 3 biodiesel plants while it ‘explores viable, sustainable alternatives’

Photo: Delek US Holdings Inc.

Delek US Holdings Inc. announced Aug. 6 that the company has idled its three biodiesel plants in Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi.

“In 2022, we announced that we are progressing a business transformation focused on enterprise-wide opportunities to improve the efficiency of our cost structure,” the company stated in its second-quarter financials.

“For the second quarter 2024, we recorded restructuring costs totaling $22.6 million ($17.5 million after-tax) associated with our business transformation,” Delek added.

“The second quarter 2024 included a $22.1 million impairment related to the decision to temporarily idle the Crossett, Arkansas; Cleburne, Texas; and New Albany, Mississippi, biodiesel facilities, while we explore viable and sustainable alternatives,” the company stated.

Delek added that its decision to idle these facilities “was driven by the decline in the overall biodiesel market and aligns with our continued operational and cost-optimization efforts.”

The company’s biodiesel refinery in Cleburne, Texas, had produced about 10 million gallons of biodiesel per year (mgy), according to Delek’s website.

Twenty-one people were working at the plant in Texas before it was idled.

The biodiesel facility was built in 1995 and acquired by Delek in 2013.

Delek’s biodiesel plant in Crossett, Arkansas, produced approximately 12 mgy, according to the company, and employed 15 people.

It was constructed in 1995 and acquired by Delek in 2014.

The biodiesel production facility in New Albany, Mississippi, manufactured up to nearly 14 mgy and employed 13 people on site.

The Mississippi plant was constructed in 2017 and acquired by Delek in 2019.

Biobased Diesel Daily® reached out to Delek for more information but received no response by the time of publication.