LONGMONT — Biofuel company Sundrop Fuels Inc. has purchased 1,213 acres in Louisiana where it plans to build a $500 million biofuel refinery, the company said Friday.

Financial terms of the deal with seller Ballina Farms Inc. were not disclosed.

Sundrop, based in Longmont, is expected to detail its plans for the plant — next to Interstate 49 northwest of Alexandria in Boyce, La. — in the next several weeks.

Workers at the plant will make "green gasoline" for consumer use and could employ 150 people. A second, mass-scale biofuels production plant centered on that technology could open in 2017.

Sundrop raised $56.3 million in the third quarter to build and run the first biofuel plant, according to a report compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Funding came from Oak Investment Partners and an undisclosed investment firm, according to the report. 

Sundrop also is backed by partner, Chesapeake Energy Corp. and by venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, which has offices in California and China.

In July 2011, Chesapeake NG Ventures Corp. took a 50 percent equity stake in Sundrop after investing $155 million in the company. Chesapeake is a wholly owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK), which is based in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is the nation's second-largest natural gas producer.