U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack at the end of June announced SoyMor Biodiesel in Glenville has been awarded a $25 million loan guarantee to help the company expand its production of biofuel and diversify its operations.

The United States Department of Agriculture loan guarantee is the first step the company needed to install technology upgrades, SoyMor board Chairman Gary Pestorious said in a news release.

With the upgrades, the 30-million gallon biodiesel facility will be able to process a wider variety of raw materials to produce high-quality biodiesel, Pestorious said.

The upgrades will help reduce “our nation’s dependence on foreign oil while supporting American agriculture, reducing greenhouse gases and putting our green collar workforce back to work,” he said.

It will include a roughly 5,500-square-foot new structure in addition to the current structure of the facility.

Though the SoyMor facility shut down in 2008 because of market conditions, the board chairman said it is the hope of the company’s leaders to rehire employees once the upgrade construction is near completion and when market conditions improve.

“We remain committed to the community and local economic development,” Pestorious said.

The facility employed about 32 people when running at full capacity.

The upgrades will allow the facility to process a wider variety of feedstocks, including animal fats, used vegetable oils, corn oil and additional vegetable oils, the press release stated.

Currently, the facility can only use crude or refined vegetable oils like soybean or canola oil.

Soymor will partner with Renewable Energy Group, its management and marketing company, for the upgrades.

Kelly Goskeson, SoyMor accounting manager, said the company needs to secure the remaining financing using the guarantee, and then engineering and construction plans will be completed.

Then, from the time of the groundbreaking to the substantial completion of the project will be about six months, she said.