KINGSBURGY, Ind. - Indiana Flex Fuels LLC, a fledgling La Porte County biodiesel company, was energized with a $500,000 renewable energy grant presented at a ribbon cutting ceremony at its new plant in Kingsbury Industrial Park Wednesday morning.

Dennis Zeedyk, president of the new company, received a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant intended to encourage development of more environmentally friendly fuels. Zeedyk credited U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Granger, for assistance with the lengthy grant application.

Because biodiesel can be produced from readily available byproducts, it is seen as a way to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil. Zeedyk is partnering with Xenerga, an Orlando, Fla., company, to launch the first U.S. plant designed to produce five million gallons of biodiesel a year. Xenerga selected Indiana Flex Fuels from a pool of
2,500 applicants to be one of 20 similar startups in the United States, according to Jason Sayers, Xenerga's chief executive officer.

His company has equipped biodiesel plants in Europe and Asia and conducts research and development on feedstocks to support biodiesel production.

Indiana Flex Fuels' 8,000-square-foot manufacturing plant should be fully operational in about a month, said Zeedyk. It will take in animal fats and used cooking oil and convert them to biodiesel. Local truckers will transport the biodiesel to Eco-Energy in Franklin, Tenn., an alternative fuel broker for ethanol manufacturers.

Zeedyk is an Ohio native who now lives in Westville. An agricultural economist, he said he became interested in biodiesel production while working for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Bosnia.

"I was driving a diesel car," Zeedyk said. "A liter of diesel costs the equivalent of a dollar and vegetable oil was 70 cents. I started doing some napkin calculations."

After conducting a lot of site research, Zeedyk chose the La Porte County location. "It was the best site in the United States," Zeedyk said. "It has access to rail, roads and feedstocks."

In December, county officials granted Zeedyk a 10-year tax abatement on $21.5 million in equipment and approved a variance for development of the plant on a 20-acre parcel south of Hupp Road. The company is expected to create 27 jobs and invest about $3.6 million, contributing some $256,000 in property taxes.