Linden IN Ethanol Plant Running at Full Capacity

Officials from Fortune 500 company Valero Energy Corporation visited one of their newest acquisitions Friday, the Valero Renewables ethanol plant in Montgomery County, Indiana. Coming out of Vera Sun bankruptcy, Valero restarted ethanol production in March this year.

Senior Vice President Jim Gillingham told HAT scouting for good deals has helped them enter the ethanol market. “We like to find plants that are the best technology, and the large plants, and located right in the middle of the Corn Belt where we have farmers who can supply us at good prices.”

Gillingham added the Linden plant had been shut down for a period of time, “so our biggest issue was getting people back to work and getting them retrained. The plant was in good mechanical condition, so there wasn’t a lot to do there, but getting people trained properly so they can do their job safely is very important to us.”

Traditionally an oil refiner, Valero is now the third largest U.S. ethanol producer with its ten facilities. Moving into renewable fuel fits well within the company plan. “We believe that the public really wants to see renewable fuels in the mix. We have legislation from congress that dictates that. Valero believes that since we are not an exploration and production company that the ethanol business gives us an opportunity to have a different feedstock to bring to plants, and our true business model is manufacturing and delivering motor fuels to the public to benefit their lives.”

Gillingham says the ethanol industry has tightened up in the aftermath of a rash of bankruptcies in 2008, “and so the business has been a lot better. We have a little bit of growth still with the RFS allowing us to go up to 15 billion gallons of ethanol. So there is growth in front of us but it’s not the rapid growth that we saw five or ten years ago.”

The Linden facility is operating at its full 110 million bushel per year capacity, even above that output at times. The company estimates it uses about a third of the corn produced in a 50 mile radius. Valero gets corn from the Cargill elevator located adjacent to the ethanol plant.

source: hoosieragtoday