100 Mgy Vera Sun corn ethanol plant in North Dakota to begin production next month
In North Dakota, a 100 Mgy Vera Sun Energy corn ethanol plant in Hankinson will commence production next month. The plant was originally a US BioEnergy project, but became a VeraSun plant when the two companies merged earlier this year.
In North Dakota, management at the Alchem ethanol plant in Grafton said they expected the plant to resume production this month. Tight ethanol margins had forced the plant’s closure in October.
Alchem was one of the first of a rash of 12 plant closures in several Midwest and Southwest states, and is the first to announce a firm re-opening date.
In recent North Dakota ethanol openings, the 50 Mgy Red Trail Energy ethanol plant commenced production. Also, Tharaldson Ethanol broke ground late last year on its $200 million project plant near Casselton. The plant includes a number of new features to reduce water usage and impact on local water resources. Steam from the ethanol heating process will be re-purposed throughout the plant rather than released to the atmosphere. A pipeline fro Fargo will provide 1 million gallons of treated wastewater per day, of which 400,000 will be returned to Fargo. The City of Fargo typically treats 12 million gallons of wastewater per day which is released into the Red River after processing.
North Dakota is currently ranked fourth among all US states in ethanol production, with an output of 239 million gallons of ethanol, or 67% of the state’s gasoline needs.
