Wallace's Farmer, IA
03-06-07
More Biodiesel Plants Planned for Iowa
Maple River Energy LLC intends to build a 5-million gallon per year soybean
crush plant and biodiesel production facility south of Galva in northwest Iowa.
The company announced those plans on February 22. The plant is expected to
be built east of the Quad County Corn Processors ethanol plant, on the north
side of U.S. Highway 20.
Maple River Energy will begin the equity drive to raise capital necessary to build
the plant on Wednesday, March 7 at Galva-Holstein High School in Holstein. The
kick-off equity drive meeting will begin at 7 p.m. with several special guests
expected to attend. This project began as a value-added endeavor of Galva
Holstein Ag, LLC. A feasibility study and business plan were completed and a
separate board of directors established.
Differs from other biofuel projects
"Maple River Energy differs from other renewable fuels projects in the state,"
says Delayne Johnson, general manager of Galva Holstein Ag and board
member of Maple River Energy. "We plan to take soybeans right out of the field,
crush them at our facility, produce our own oil, then manufacture and blend
biodiesel on site. The finished product is intended to be distributed locally to our
customer base."
The Maple River Energy business model focuses on local inputs and markets.
"As proposed, we will not be dependent on outside oil sources. We will manage
our plant without oil contracts and will not incur railroad or other transportation
related delays in the process," says Johnson. "We have millions of bushels of
soybeans right here in our backyard. This is a great way to use our own valueadded products, improve farmer profitability, and spur economic development in
northwest Iowa."
Maple River Energy will hold a series of information meetings over the next few
weeks. All meetings begin at 7 p.m. This offering is only open to residents of the
state of Iowa. An offer is made only by prospectus, a copy of which may be
obtained from Maple River Energy. Phone 712-368-4352 (Ext. 231) at Galva, Ia.
You can also call this number to get dates and locations of the meetings.
Huxley site to research, produce biodiesel
Technochem International, Inc., an Ames-based company founded in India in
1972, is planning a biodiesel production and research facility to be built in Huxley
in central Iowa. The plant, which will employ 51 people, is expected to produce
about 5 million gallons of biodiesel annually. In addition to producing biodiesel, it
will be involved in glycerine purification and vegetable oil processing.
In addition, the plant will perform research and development work and it will
manufacture biodiesel equipment. The head of U.S. operations for Technochem,
a privately held company, is Sanjeev Agarwal, a professor of international
business at Iowa State University. State records show Technochem plans to
invest $15.4 million in the Huxley project.
If this plant is built, Huxley would have the second biodiesel plant in central Iowa.
A plant at Newton, Central Iowa Energy, is in the final stages of construction and
is scheduled to start production in April.
Ethanol plant planned for Washington
Also recently announced is an ethanol plant to be built in southeast Iowa, near
the town of Washington. TerraEnergies LLC of Washington says it wants to build
an ethanol plant near the Iowa Renewable Energy LLC biodiesel plant that is
under construction in Washington. The biodiesel plant is scheduled to open in
early June, says Jim Hanshaw, one of TerraEnergies founders.
The ethanol project is another step toward a bioenergy park at Washington, he
says. TerraEnergies plans to schedule meetings for potential investors.