BY DAMIAN JOSEPH, Medill News Service, Times of Northwest Indiana
VeraSun Energy Corp., the country's second-largest ethanol producer, announced plans Wednesday to build an ethanol biorefinery in Reynolds, Ind.
The Brookings, S.D.-based company plans to complete the plant in late 2008 and estimates it will employ approximately 60 full-time employees. It will be the company's sixth biorefinery; three are in operation and two are under construction.
VeraSun declined to disclose the cost of the project but said it will be in line with the cost of its two previous plants.
Construction will begin in May, and when the plant is finished, it will process about 39 million bushels each year of corn to produce 110 million gallons of ethanol and 350,000 tons of distillers grain. VeraSun officials said the plant should increase its annual ethanol production to 670 million gallons. The company said it will extract oil from the dried distillers grains, a biproduct of the ethanol refining process, for use in biodiesel production.
The plant will be built on U.S. 421, northeast of Reynolds -- or as it has come to be called by the state's politicians, "BioTown USA." The town, lying between Rensselaer and Monticello, donned the nickname as part of a state effort to produce an entirely energy self-sufficient town.
The BioTown project was launched by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels in September 2005. The town's efforts to exclusively use biorenewable resources include turning animal waste into electricity and paper fluff into fertilizer.
Town Board President and BioTown Authority President Charlie Van Voorst expressed excitement about the project.
"We are a farm community, and this will help our farmers a great deal. My community has accepted them 100 percent," he said.
Van Voorst also is optimistic about the jobs it could generate for the community. He said that while working on bringing the plant to Reynolds, VeraSun expressed the desire to hire locally.
"They said they want to be able to hire as many as they can," he said.
VeraSun markets E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline for use in flexible fuel vehicles. Currently, the blend is available in more than 80 retail locations.
The company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Dan Endres said in a statement, "The long-term sustainability of renewable energy is important as our country moves to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, provide a cleaner environment and generate economic growth in rural agricultural communities."
Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., echoed Endres' sentiment adding, "Our national security demands that we make the shift quickly."
© Copyright 2024, nwitimes.com, Munster, IN