DuPont unveils plans for ethanol plant in Nevada

Lincolnway Energy of Nevada will sell a 57-acre site west of its existing plant to Itasca, Ill.-based DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol Company, to make way for an ethanol plant that will turn corn stover into biofuel.

Company CEO Joe Skurla said DuPont bought the site “because it will meet the business needs for our project, and (it) provides potential economic and environmental synergies for both facilities.”

Corn stover consists of the stalks, leaves and cobs left in the field following the harvest.

DuPont Danisco spokeswoman Jennifer Hutchins said her company wouldn’t have more immediate comments to make on the project. But in its earlier dealings with the Iowa Department of Economic Development, DuPont Danisco indicated its plant would produce 25 million to 50 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol each year and employ up to 65 workers.

Lincolnway President & CEO Rick Brehm said that terms of the sale were not announced.

Brehm said that his company is providing rail access improvements to the parcel, and that the tracks should be done by November, weather permitting.

He said Lincolnway Energy now employs 45 people and generates about 55 million gallons of ethanol each year.

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While Lincolnway doesn’t anticipate having any of its workers involved in the DuPont operation, and vice versa, Brehm said “that when the time comes, we would like to sit down with them and discuss what kinds of synergies would work for both of us.”

Bill Couser, board chairman for Lincolnway Energy, said DuPont’s decision to come to Nevada “will be huge for the farm economy."

"As a cattle feeder, and a farmer, to be able to say that what comes out of our fields is now a commodity we can sell, it’s huge,” he said.

“We need to develop ways to get it out of the fields in an efficient, storable fashion, but that’s (a development that) will be coming. I think we can change the face of the agricultural industry with this."

What it may mean for the employment base is another question, Couser said.

“We need to be realistic, and we’re just in the beginning phase of how we’re going to go about (corn stover) collection,” Couser said. “If I were to say we’re going to need 1,000 balers or 100 trucks, that wouldn’t be fair or reasonable.”

source: amestrib