Petroleum alternatives aren’t just the talk of environmentalists anymore.

John Rivera, spokesman and Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Sustainable Energy Corp., met with shareholders in an open meeting at the company’s fuel generation facility in Natchez.

The meeting also included a tour of the facility, located at the Natchez-Adams port facilities.

U.S. Sustainable Energy focuses on biofuel research and production, Rivera said.

Biofuel is a petroleum alternative that is derived from agriculture products such as corn or soybeans.

U.S. Sustainable Energy will bring a new fuel source into the economy, Rivera said.

Using a patented process, the company generates three times more biofuel per bushel than anyone else, Rivera said.

“Normally, you get 1.5 gallons (of fuel) to the bushel,” he said. “We get five.”

“The math is simple.”

Rivera said the way in which higher oil content is generated — which he dubbed the “Rivera process” — is a mystery even to him.

“I’m not getting into quantum physics, and I’m not going to go into what the academics are saying,” he said. “I cannot explain to anybody how I am getting as much as I am.”

The Rivera process also does not need to pay attention to the condition of energy source, Rivera said.

“The soybeans can be rotten and we can still use them,” he said.

“Bottom line, the farmers will be able to reap a profit.”

Rivera stated in December that the company had not applied for a permit from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality because the process produces no emissions.

The Natchez plant currently only has one fuel reactor in which biofuel is generated, but two mini-reactors are also housed in the facility for research, as well as a small ethanol plant.

One of the mini-reactors is used for agriculture product research, while the other is used to test petroleum products such as tires, General Manager Jerry Brent said.

The facility is waiting to get a permit for the ethanol plant, Brent said.

“The (bureau of) Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms wants to make sure that we aren’t using it to make .200 proof corn whiskey,” he said.

The company plans to eventually have 200 fully operational reactors, Brent said.

Each of those reactors will generate 6,000 gallons of biofuel a day, he said.

David Maret, an investor from Oshkosh, Wis., said that he supports the product because it is American made.

Hugh Allen Sr., of Edward, said he hopes it will help the country, and that the technology interests him.

“I’m interested in seeing that kind of technology come from soybeans,” he said.