Negative Carbon fuels for a greener tomorrow

We are a renewable fuels platform that uses proven processing methods to convert forestry residual woody biomass into green syngas, a flexible feedstock which can be converted into renewable gasoline, green methanol, sustainable aviation fuel, or green hydrogen.

Changing the world in more ways than one

By using forestry residual woody biomass as our feedstock, we not only facilitate the production of negative carbon fuels to offset traditional hydrocarbon-based fuels thereby lowering greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) of the global transportation fleet, but we also eliminate GHG associated with the natural breakdown of wood fibers in the environment and reduce the risk of forest fires.

Our Technologies

We use bubbling fluidized gasification technology licensed from SunGas Renewables, a subsidiary of GTI International, with qualifying forestry residual woody biomass feedstock that meets all requirements of EPA's Renewable Fuel Standard, California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard, and the EU's Renewable Energy Directive.

Our Projects

Our flagship project, Spindletop, is comprised of a strategically located plant site in Beaumont, Texas and a wood processing and handling site in Woodville, Texas with access to abundant, economically viable, and sustainable forestry residual woody biomass. Spindletop has the capacity to operate up to four trains, with each train producing 42.5 million scf per day of syngas, which can be further processed into 42,000 gallons per day of renewable gasoline, 345 metric tons per day of green methanol, or 33,600 gallons per day of sustainable aviation fuel.

Meet Our team

Our team has over 100 years of combined experience in the development, financing, construction, and operations of large-scale industrial and energy projects.

Timothy E. Vail

Timothy E. Vail

Co-Founder | Advisor to the Board

Mr. Vail has a long career of successfully building energy companies in the downstream and alternative energy arena. His latest venture, Arbor Renewable Gas, focuses on the conversion of waste wood biomass into pure hydrogen at industrial scale for chemical producers and refiners. Prior to Arbor, Mr. Vail founded G2X Energy in May of 2012. Mr. Vail’s central role at G2X was developing, financing and building of world scale energy infrastructure projects, using proprietary processes and a proven execution team, that convert abundant natural gas into methanol and ultimately automotive gasoline. Since the founding of G2X, Mr. Vail grew the business into one of the largest producers of methanol in the world, commissioning the world’s largest methanol plant located in Beaumont, Texas. In May of 2018, Mr. Vail sold G2X Energy to a group of private investors that included his largest investor, Consolidated Energy Limited of Zurich. Prior to his current position, Mr. Vail was President and CEO of Synthesis Energy Systems, Inc, a global developer of coal gasification facilities. During his tenure at SES, Mr. Vail successfully listed the company on the NASDAQ. Before SES, Mr. Vail held various leadership roles including Director of Commercialization of General Motors fuel cell program, head of alternative energy technologies at Enron Corporation and an MLP securities law practice with Andrews & Kurth. Mr. Vail holds a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center and a B.A. in Economics from The University of Texas at Austin. He resides in Houston, Texas with his wife, Elizabeth, and has grown twins, Peter and Alexandra.

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Brian Zatarain

Brian Zatarain

President

Mr. Zatarain is a senior executive with 25+ years of hands-on and diverse strategic, development, M&A, finance, commercial and asset management experience. Prior to joining Arbor Renewable Gas, Mr. Zatarain was the Chief Executive Officer of Itafos, a vertically integrated phosphate fertilizers and specialty products company and an Executive Vice President at Ashmore Energy International (AEI) where he was a member of the management team, chaired the investment committee and was responsible for strategy, and corporate and greenfield development. Earlier in his career Mr. Zatarain worked in the international business development and asset management groups at Enron Corp. and Coastal Corp. Mr. Zatarain has co-founded several companies including in 2017, Prisma Energy, a renewable and battery storage investment holding company. Mr. Zatarain serves as an operating partner for private equity firms and family offices and as a director on the board of public and private companies. Mr. Zatarain holds a Master of Business Administration from Duke University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Texas.

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Trey Fielder

Trey Fielder

Chief Operating Officer

Mr. Fielder’s energy career has focused on leading the successful execution of energy projects across all phases, including greenfield development, construction, commissioning, logistics and full operations. The most recent project was Natgasoline LLC, a $2+ billion methanol facility located in Beaumont, Texas. Mr. Fielder served as Chief Operating Officer of Natgasoline LLC., a joint venture partnership between G2X Energy and OCI N.V. Prior to joining Natgasoline, Mr. Fielder worked for G2X Energy as General Manager for Big Lake Fuels, another world-scale greenfield methanol project located in Lake Charles, Louisiana. While at G2X, Mr. Fielder also completed the construction of the Pampa Fuels methanol facility served and was Director of Business Development for other greenfield chemical projects. Mr. Fielder has also successfully completed multiple pipeline projects for commodities such as hydrogen, methanol and natural gas. Mr. Fielder also served as Director of Development for Synthesis Energy Systems (SES), a global developer of coal gasification facilities that cleanly produce transportation fuels from coal resources. Additionally, Mr. Fielder's experience includes business development and management in the technology field, working for companies such as Yahoo, Oracle and BEA Systems. Mr. Fielder holds a BBA from the University of Texas and an MBA from SMU Cox School of Business.

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George Burdette III

George Burdette III

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Burdette is a senior executive with over 15 years of corporate development, financial, commercial, and investment management experience. During his career, Mr. Burdette has executed over $8 billion of M&A transactions and financings. Prior to joining Arbor, Mr. Burdette was Chief Financial Officer of Itafos, where he was responsible for all aspects of finance for a publicly traded, global phosphate fertilizer producer. Prior to Itafos, he was head of Americas project finance at First Solar where he was responsible for project financing and commercial initiatives in the US, Latin America, and South Africa. Prior to First Solar, Mr. Burdette had a range of experience in private equity and corporate roles at both Zaff Capital and AEI, where he shaped strategy and led various corporate development, financing, and portfolio company optimization initiatives. Mr. Burdette has served as a strategic and financial advisor to both private equity firms and major utilities. Mr. Burdette holds a Bachelor of Arts in international business and French from Wofford College and a Master of Business Administration from the University of South Carolina.

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Adil Rajabali

Adil Rajabali

Director, Corporate Finance

Mr. Rajabali leads a broad range of finance and analytical functions at Arbor, including operational budgeting and forecasting, capital planning, financial analytics, and reporting. Mr. Rajabali collaborates with the Arbor executive team to make decisions regarding the company’s financial strategy and operations. Prior to joining Arbor, Mr. Rajabali was a vice president in Wells Fargo’s Corporate and Investment Banking group, where he executed bank debt and capital raise transactions across the Energy Services & Technology segment. While at Wells Fargo, Mr. Rajabali was responsible for underwriting, financial modeling, due diligence, execution, and monitoring of the bank’s +$4 billion debt portfolio. Mr. Rajabali started his career as an investment banking analyst at Doren Mayhew Capital Advisors, primarily focusing on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, debt and equity capital raising, and recapitalizations for companies in the lower middle market segment. Mr. Rajabali earned a B.A. focused in Finance at University of Houston.

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Jim Bob Mitchell

Jim Bob Mitchell

Director, Operations

Mr. Mitchell started his career at Celanese Chemical Plant in Pampa, TX in 1989 working in the wastewater treatment laboratory. He spent the next 19 years in positions of progressively increasing responsibility. The last five years of his Celanese career were spent as the operations section leader for utilities managing the operation of the coal and gas fired boilers for the plant. This included the management of the electrical cogeneration unit for the local utility as well as the operation of the plant water and wastewater treatment systems. Jim Bob wrapped up his career with Celanese with the shuttering of the Pampa site in 2008. After a brief stint as the Plant Manager for the Tumbleweed project at the Pampa site, Jim Bob accepted the position of Operations Manager for the Cabot PDMC plant manufacturing specialty carbon black in a research and development setting. In late 2012, he got the opportunity to help start up a new company by accepting the General Manager role for the G2X Energy Pampa Fuels plant. He was directly responsible for the engineering, construction, staffing, commissioning, and startup of a 65,000 MT/year methanol plant that was constructed on the old Celanese Pampa site. After successfully operating the plant for two years, Mr. Mitchell accepted an offer to relocate to Beaumont, TX to serve as the Operations Manager for the construction, commissioning, and startup of the Natgasoline plant which is a 1.7M MT/year methanol plant. This plant was successfully started in 2018 and Mr. Mitchell returned to the Panhandle to be closer to his family. In May 2019, he accepted the position of Plant Manager for White Energy in Plainview, Texas. He is responsible for the management and operation of a 125M gallon/year ethanol plant that converts corn and milo into renewable energy. He possesses significant experience in the design, construction, commissioning, and startup of methanol plants including the staffing and budget development of new plants. Mr. Mitchell holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Tarleton State University and lives with his wife in the Texas panhandle. Mr. Mitchell has two grown daughters.

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Our Investors

Arbor is backed by EnCap Investments, a leading provider of capital to independent energy companies, and Mercuria Energy, a leading global energy and commodity trading organization.

Press Releases

Arbor Renewable Gas, LLC Secures Capital Commitment from EnCap Investments L.P.

August 17, 2021

In the News

SunGas Renewables Inc. Announces Agreement with Arbor Renewable Gas™

October 27, 2022

CONTACT US

info@arborgas.com
346.708.7819

1800 Bering Dr, Ste 1000
Houston, Texas 77057