Qteros closed its Chicopee plant in January after suffering financial problems
CHICOPEE — In the market for a 1,000-gallon fermenter tank with an agitator and digital controls? The collapse of once-promising biofuels company Qteros might just be the opportunity you are looking for.
On Friday, auctioneers Aaron Posnik & Co. will sell all tools, equipment and furniture that once belonged to Qteros. Besides the fermentation tank, the sale will include filtration equipment, chillers and incubators Qteros had once hoped to use to scale up its ethanol-production technology to commercial volumes.
The sale is at 11 a.m. at the premises, 150 Padgette St., Chicopee, in an industrial park near Westover Air Reserve Base, and by live Internet bidding.
Qteros closed its Chicopee plant in January after suffering financial problems
In November, Qteros, which has its home office in Marlborough, replaced its chief executive officer and laid off many of its employees.
Qteros had been listed by Biofuels Digest in 2010 as number 21 of the 50 hottest companies in bioenergy, Qteros based its process on a microbe found in the early 1990s in the soils around Quabbin Reservoir and developed by University of Massachusetts Amherst microbiologist Susan B. Leschine.
The microb can produce ethanol fuel from non-food plant materials like grass.
Chicopee Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette said it is a disappointing development. But he hopes the city continues to work with the University of Massachusetts Amherst so technology developed in Amherst becomes commercially viable in Chicopee. He said the landlord at 150 Padgette St., Development Associates in Agawam, has tenants in neighboring space and is confident the Qteros space won’t stay vacant for long.