Texas Farmers Working on Sugarcane Ethanol Plant

Some Texas farmers believe that if Brazil can produce ethanol from sugarcane, they can too.

Jasper County, Texas is located in the southeast part of the state, north of Houston and not too far west of Louisiana. The North Jasper County Renewable Fuel Farmers Cooperative Society is planning to build a 300,000 gallon per year ethanol production plant, using sugarcane for the feedstock. The group is seeking a federal minority business grant for the project and getting support from the county economic development council.

The board of the Jasper Economic Development Corporation met on Tuesday evening in council chambers at Jasper City Hall. The board had one action item on their agenda, a request for support from a local sugarcane farmer who is joining other farmers in a quest to build an ethanol plant.

McNeal Adams, of the North Jasper County Renewable Fuel Farmers Cooperative Society, addressed the board and spoke about the groups plan to build a 300,000 gallon per year ethanol production plant, using sugarcane as their feedstock. According to Adams, the ethanol would be blended with gasoline in a mixture of approximately 25% ethanol to 75% gas, resulting in lower fuel prices locally.

Adams said their plan will be based on the existing practice of using ethanol from sugarcane in Brazil, which is the world's second largest producer of ethanol fuel and the world's largest exporter.

Adams also said that an ethanol plant would also use the sugarcane for producing syrup

Currently the group is submitting an application to obtain a small minority producer grant from the United States Drug Administration, and on Tuesday they were asking JEDCO to draft a letter of support.

The JEDCO board passed the issue unanimously and agreed to write a letter on their behalf.

source: kfdm