Ethanol plant plans future expansion

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — About 46 million to 47 million bushels of corn grown within roughly a 50-mile radius are used annually to produce ethanol at One Earth Energy.

Steve Kelly, president and CEO of the Gibson City facility, was among the featured speakers at the Illinois Corn Growers Association’s annual meeting to share his insights into the company’s growth and future plans.

Construction started on the dry grind ethanol production plant in 2007, and it began producing ethanol, dried distillers grains and corn oil in June 2009.

“We started with about 100 million gallons of production per year and then we stepped it up to 110 million, then 125 million, and we’re now producing 150 million gallons of ethanol annually,” Kelly said.

Future plans are to increase ethanol production to 175 million gallons and eventually up to 200 million gallons annually.

Markets

The company provides ethanol for local, national and international markets.

“There’s a terminal just outside of Champaign owned and operated by Marathon. We supply them with ethanol for that terminal. So, our product is used locally downstate distributed through several gas stations. The other 95% is going to the East Coast, Virginia, Georgia and some into Florida,” Kelly said.

Local users are offered distillers grains first, representing about 5% of demand. The remaining DDGs go into the open market.

Demand for ethanol varies over 12 months, and the industry awaits any kind of federal move regarding a shift from E10 to E15.

“The challenge is that we’ve maximized the amount of demand that we have for the ethanol in the U.S. combined for what we produce. So, that pushes us into that overseas market which can be there today and maybe not tomorrow. There’s some risk in that,” Kelly said.

“And, consequently, that makes our margins go up and down. It’s a commodity type business. It’s risky and it needs to be managed properly.”

Sequestration

A plan to reduce the company’s carbon footprint through sequestration is also in the works. CO2 is produced through the fermentation of corn.

The company is currently awaiting approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a Class VI injection well.

“We’re working towards that direction to sequester. There’s a moratorium in Illinois that will expire July 1, 2026. That’s the first date that the Illinois Commerce Commission is allowed to issue a certificate of authority to someone like us to construct a pipeline. That’s our next goal in preparation to be ready for that day,” Kelly said.

One Earth Sequestration, a One Earth Energy partner, proposes to capture 521,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually.

That’s the equivalent of taking 123,999 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles off the road for one year, according to One Earth Energy.

Under the proposal, the captured CO2 will be routed through a compression facility and will then be compressed into supercritical fluid.

The CO2 will be transported via a pipeline to a site about six miles west of Gibson City for permanent geological storage more than 6,000 feet underground where it will be stored in Mt. Simon Sandstone.

“It will take the CO2 from being emitted into the atmosphere which is affecting climate change. It will then qualify our product as a low carbon and we hope that it opens up opportunities for future fuels other than just being blended into the gasoline market,” Kelly said.