Sunoco's N.Y. Ethanol Plant to Open in July

PHILADELPHIA - Sunoco Inc.'s ethanol plant in upstate New York is expected to begin operations by July 1, Dow Jones reported.

The company estimated that the retrofit of the 100 million gallon-per-year plant in Volney should be nearly complete by the end of June. However, it will still take several months before the facility can run at full capacity.

Sunoco purchased the ethanol plant for $8.5 million in June 2009 from a company in bankruptcy proceedings. The plant has never been operational. When Sunoco first acquired the plant, the company estimated it would require at least $10 million worth of upgrades.

Sunoco has estimated that the facility could eventually meet 25 percent of the company's ethanol needs.