Domestic Fuel

Australia is getting into the ethanol business. Dalby Bio-Refinery Limited has announced it will commence Stage One construction of an ethanol plant, worth $54 million, near Dalby during the first half of 2006.
Chris Harrison, Director of Dalby Bio-Refinery Limited, said the first stage of the project would produce 40 million litres of ethanol while the full project will have annual production of a minimum of 80 million litres. “We are constructing the plant in two stages, to allow our project to grow with the market,” he said. “We are using proven grain to ethanol technology from an industry leader in the US fuel ethanol industry, Delta-T Corporation of Williamsburg, Virginia.” It will be the first Dry Mill grain to ethanol plant constructed in Australia and the first plant built specifically for the production of ethanol for fuel since the Second World War. The refinery will produce ethanol from sorghum and wheat, but can also utilise other grains such as corn and barley.

On Monday, November 7, the farmer-leaders of southeast Missouri announced Bootheel Agri-Energy, a pioneering effort to build an innovative 100 million gallon, coal-fired ethanol plant. Near as I can tell, 100 million gallons a year is about the most any ethanol plant in the country produces, and it’s twice the capacity of any already operating or planned for Missouri. Missouri Corn Merchandising Council chairman Mike Geske, a farmer from the bootheel area, says they are very excited about the plans for an ethanol plant in that region. “There’s a lot of production down here – one of the largest corn production areas in the state. It was very much a gap in our ethanol production ability in the state of Missouri.” I interviewed Mike about the plans for this week’s Missouri Corn Growers CornTalk.

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Ford Motor Co. announced on Friday a partnership with South Dakota renewable energy company VeraSun Energy Corp. aimed at expanding support for vehicles capable of running on up to 85 percent ethanol, known as E85.
The partnership will concentrate on growing the ethanol infrastructure in 2006 and converting existing fuel pumps to VeraSun’s branded E85 in existing retail outlets. A consumer awareness campaign will also be launched.

An ethanol plant is coming to Sioux City, IA. Mayor Karen Van de Steeg and the city council proudly made the announcement this morning that an $80 million plant will be built near Sioux Gateway airport. Baard Renewables LLC, a subsidiary of Baard Energy of Vancover, WA, will construct the plant which company officials say will produce 60-million gallons of ethanol every year. The operation will create 48 permanent jobs that pay between 40 and 140-thousand dollars a year. Construction is expected to begin next September with completion set for one year later.

Groundbreaking ceremonies are being held within the next few days in two states for two new ethanol plants.
Siouxland Ethanol will break ground on a plant in Jackson, NE on Friday, November 4. When completed, Siouxland Ethanol will produce 50 million gallons of ethanol annually using 18 million bushels of corn from the region. The plant will provide 32-36 news jobs for the local area. Fagen, Inc. of Granite Falls, Minnesota is handling both construction and management of the project. ICM, Inc. of Colwich, Kansas will provide the process design. According to the American Coalition for Ethanol release, Nebraska is the nation’s third largest producer of ethanol.

Then on Monday, November 7, ground will be broken for the Missouri Ethanol, LLC plant in Laddonia, MO. That plant is a partnership between East Central Ag Products (ECAP), Northeast Missouri Grain, LLC and Broin Companies. Missouri Governor Matt Blunt and other state and national dignitaries will be on hand for that event. Accoring to Missouri Ethanol President David Vogt they hope to begin ethanol production next fall. “The plant should produce about 45 million gallons of ethanol and 134,000 tons of distiller’s grains,” said Vogt. He adds that it will use about 17 million bushels of corn a year and provide about 40 jobs in the area. I interviewed David Vogt about the project for the Missouri Corn Growers Association’s weekly CornTalk program, which you can listen to here.

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A small “one stoplight” town in Indiana is trying to make a new name for itself – Bio Town, USA.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels recently announced his ambitious plan to make Reynolds, IN the first community in the country that gets all of its energy from biorenewable sources. “BioTown , USA is an aggressive plan that I believe will become a model for rural communities throughout our state and country,” said Governor Daniels. “We are taking challenges and turning them into opportunities by developing homegrown, local energy production to become independent from foreign sources; creating a cleaner environment; finding new solutions to animal waste management issues; and developing new markets for Indiana agricultural products and by-products.”

Phase 1 of the BioTown, USA plan for Reynolds revolves around biofuels. Governor Daniels announced that an E85 (85 percent ethanol) fuel pump would be located in the center of Reynolds to support the flex fuel vehicles already in the town – and more flex-fuel vehicles are coming. The town has committed to convert its fleet of vehicles to E85. The Indiana State Department of Agriculture is working with a vehicle manufacturer to get more flex-fuel vehicles into this town and is also planning to convert many of the remaining cars and trucks in Reynolds into flex fuel vehicles.

Listen to a USDA newsline report about Bio Town, USDA here.