EPA Officials Observe Innovation, Ingenuity at EKAE Plant

(Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine) Renewable Fuels Association member company East Kansas Agri-Energy recently hosted key officials from the U.S. EPA at its facility in Garnett, Kansas, 70 miles southwest of Kansas City.

EPA personnel toured the 45 million gallon per year corn ethanol plant, examined progress on EKAE’s co-located renewable diesel project, and discussed the importance of ethanol and the renewable fuel standard (RFS) with plant management and local investors.

EKAE, which was founded by local farmers and business leaders, produced its first gallon of ethanol one month before the original RFS was adopted in 2005. In 2014, the company broke ground on a bolt-on renewable diesel facility, which will convert the corn distillers oil already produced at the plant into low-carbon advanced biofuel.

“The original goal of East Kansas Agri-Energy was to add value to our crops and provide a badly-needed economic boost to local farmers,” said EKAE Chairman Bill Pracht, a farmer and rancher from Westphalia, Kansas. “But over the past 10 years, EKAE has done so much more than that. The plant has been a major employer and economic engine for Anderson County, and the jobs and income we’ve created at EKAE have really rippled through the entire area.”

EPA also hand-delivered a letter to EKAE approving the company’s efficient producer pathway petition, which certifies that the company’s ethanol reduces GHG emissions by 27.2 percent compared to petroleum. READ MORE