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Ethanol plant opening nears
32 fulltime employees on job since Jan. 7
Published Thursday, March 6, 2008
Photo by Zak Holtan
The equipment in the ethanol plant boiler room was fired up this week.
With a part of it already up and running, Otter Tail Ag Enterprises is approaching 100 percent operational.
“We will be 100 percent in March,” said Gunner Greene, plant manager. “We’re fairly close to setting a date. Things change from day to day.”
The plant isn’t typical, Greene said, in that it is a modular start-up.
“There are several sections that go on line at different times.”
The boilers, for example, started up a couple of days ago.
A full slate of 32 employees started working Jan. 7 and are presently in the training stage, Greene said.
Located west of Fergus Falls on State Highway 210 and 1.5 miles north on County Road 116, when fully operational, about 57,000 bushels of corn will be processed a day, making about 157,000 gallons of ethanol. It is anticipated the plant will generate $110 million annually in the community.
When ground was broken for the ethanol plant in October 2006, the goal was to be producing ethanol in the first quarter of 2008, with March later specified.
Nothing, Greene said, has put a kink in the timeline — not even the November wind storm that damaged a one-million gallon storage tank under construction.
“It’s gone pretty smoothly,” he said.
Comments
The Daily Journal is happy to host community conversations about news and life in Fergus Falls and the surrounding area. As hosts, we expect guests will show respect for each other. That means we don't threaten or defame each other, and we keep conversations free of personal attacks. Witty is great. Abusive is not. If you think a post violates these standards, don't escalate the situation. Instead, flag the comment to alert us. We'll take action if necessary. It's not hard. This should be a place where people want to read and contribute -- a place for spirited exchanges of opinion. So those who persist with racist, defamatory or abusive postings risk losing the privilege to post at all.Posted by 1125thmp (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 3:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What is to be done with the corn remains after use?
Posted by Mel (anonymous) on March 6, 2008 at 5:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think I heard that the corn remains/mash can be fed to live stock.
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