Minnehaha County could get ethanol plant Minnehaha County eyes ethanol plant SIOUX FALLS (AP) - An investor group plans to ask the Minnehaha County ..

Minnehaha County could get ethanol plant


Minnehaha County eyes ethanol plant

SIOUX FALLS (AP) - An investor group plans to ask the Minnehaha County Commission to create a special tax district for a proposed ethanol plant near Sherman that would be the county's first.

Greg Van Zanten, a Colton farmer and board chairman of Buffalo Ridge Energy, said the Sherman site and others in Iowa and Minnesota are under study. He said the investors hope to make a decision in 30 to 60 days.

The plant could be completed as early as 2008. The current plan is to produce about 50 million gallons of ethanol per year, Van Zanten said.

Breakthrough leads to ethanol plant expansion

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A South Dakota company said Monday it has made breakthroughs in the production of ethanol that enables it to use corn stalks, leaves and other plant material in the production of the motor fuel.

The new technology will be used at a Broin Companies plant in the northwest Iowa town of Emmetsburg, located 120 miles northwest of Des Moines.

The ethanol plant will be expanded to use the entire corn plant instead of just the kernel. The plant's capacity of 50 million gallons of ethanol a year will be increased to 125 million gallons with an investment of about $200 million, said CEO Jeff Broin.

He said it is the first commercial facility in the United States to make ethanol from plant material other than the corn kernel.

''We believe today's announcement is the beginning of a new era of ethanol production,'' Broin said. ''An era that is necessary as we continue to move our country away from foreign oil dependency.''

Most ethanol in the United States is made from the starch contained in a corn kernel. The starch is broken down into basic sugar components, which are fermented using yeast and a cooking process into grain alcohol.

The Sioux Falls company will use technology it has developed with Denmark-based Novozymes and Delaware-based DuPont that breaks down the cellulose in corn stalks and other plant parts into basic sugars that can be fermented into ethanol.

Professor Robert Brown, director of the Iowa State University Office of Biorenewables Programs, said using plant fibers to make ethanol is more difficult and costly because it takes a more sophisticated cocktail of enzymes to extract the sugars.

A process of converting other plant material into ethanol is a needed breakthrough to enable ethanol production to expand rapidly in the United States.

Brown said many experts believe corn can be used to displace up to 12 percent of the nation's fuel supply, but beyond that, another source for the ethanol needs to be found.

Currently, about 3 percent of the nation's 140 billion gallon annual fuel consumption is ethanol, said the American Coalition for Ethanol, a trade group.

Finding a way to use materials such as perennial grasses, rapidly growing trees and corn plants can mean that the nation eventually replaces as much as two-thirds of its foreign oil demand with a homegrown fuel source, he said.

Broin said making ethanol from cellulose is not competitive with corn-based ethanol, but that should change within the next decade.

The process to be used at Emmetsburg will enable the plant to make 11 percent more ethanol from a bushel of corn and 27 percent more from an acre of corn, Broin said. The process cuts the need for fossil fuel power at the plant by 83 percent by using its own byproduct for power, Broin said.

The plant expansion is expected to create 30 additional jobs.

Gov. Tom Vilsack said locating the plant in Iowa helps the state retain its status as a leader in ethanol and biodiesel production and innovation.

''It will continue Iowa's leadership in leading the nation to a less oil dependent economy,'' said Vilsack, who recently announced that he is a candidate for president.

Iowa currently is the nation's leading producer of ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel.

Broin owns 18 ethanol plants in five states. It also owns ethanol plants in the Iowa towns of Gowrie, Jewell, Ashton, Hanlontown and Coon Rapids.