Shares in biofuel producer Mission NewEnergy have been placed in a trading halt as it finalises plans to raise more cash.

Earlier this year, the company raised US$17 million in debt financing and A$5 million in a placement to help it complete its second biodiesel plant.

The company already operates a 100,000 tonne per annum biodiesel facility at Kuantan Port in Malaysia.

The new facility, adjacent to the existing one, will give it a combined capacity of 350,000 tonnes of biodiesel per annum.

The company is also developing an inedible feedstock business in India, using drought-resistant perennial plant Jatropha Curcas.

It hopes to ultimately replace palm oil with Jatropha Curcas as the feedstock for its facilities.

Mission NewEnergy also owns two 1.65 megawatt wind energy turbines in India which sell power to a local utility under a 13-year purchase agreement.

Mission NewEnergy shares last changed hands for 22.5 cents.

STUART McKINNON