The Poet ethanol plant near North Manchester will employ about 40. Photo by Colin Thompson | The Journal Gazette
By Jenni Glenn, The Journal Gazette
Two companies have plowed more than $300 million into producing ethanol in northeast Indiana.
But as the region's first ethanol plants prepare to open, the alternative-fuel industry looks less secure than it did when the projects were on the drawing board two years ago. Some ethanol plants have struggled to operate profitably as a key ingredient's price rose, an industry analyst said.
Poet LLC and Indiana Bio-Energy LLC still are banking their plants will succeed. Indiana Bio-Energy invested $177 million to build its plant in Bluffton. After considering a nearby Wells County site, Poet opted to build its $130 million plant south of North Manchester in Wabash County. Both plants are slated to start production this month.
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