Work begins on Richmond biomanufacturing plant
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New York-based Liberation Labs broke ground Thursday morning on its first commercial-scale biomanufacturing facility in Richmond. When complete, the company said the $115 million facility will bring 45 jobs to Wayne County.
Plans for the facility were first announced in January. The plant will produce alternative proteins, which are used in food products such as almond milk and plant-based meat, as well as agricultural products such as biopesticides.
The plant is being built on a 36-acre lot in Richmond’s Midwest Industrial Park and will have a fermentation capacity of 600,000 liters, the company said.
“Today is a major milestone not just for Liberation Labs but for the future of bio-products,” CEO Mark Warner said in written remarks. “Despite strong consumer interest in bio-based ingredients, the industry has yet to fully deliver on their promise. We believe our purpose-built biomanufacturing facility will fill the gap and help usher in a new era of advanced bioproducts that will make our lives better, including foods, materials and yet-to-be-discovered breakthroughs.”
In a January interview with Inside INdiana Business, Warner said Richmond was chosen from nearly a dozen sites nationwide for three key reasons.
It’s labor, it’s electric power, and it’s our main feedstock, which is corn dextrose,” Warner said. “So being in the upper part of the Corn Belt, there’s three corn wet mills fairly close. Power’s readily available; a good chunk of it is renewable solar power, which was definitely an incentive. And what really interested in us was the location.”
He said the city’s proximity to three major metropolitan areas was also a major factor in choosing Richmond for the plant.
Liberation Labs expects to begin commercial production at the facility by the end of 2024.