Ethanol Plants Help Drive Local Farm Economy

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September 1, 2021

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by Beth Welbers (Geneseo Republic) Henry County has the good fortune to have two ethanol plants call the county home. Farmers are able to sell their corn directly to the plants. The addition of the ethanol plants to the market expands the options of selling directly to the local elevators, holding grain in storage, and waiting on “the futures” when the market price goes up.

Each year, nearly 100 million bushels of grain roll across the scales between both facilities. Big River Resources in Galva boasts 43 million bushels used per annum, and CHS claims 45 million bushels going into production of ethanol and its associated by-products. Everything from the corn kernel is used, and sent on to various markets worldwide.

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According to sources at Big River, each bushel of corn, weighing 56 pounds, translates to 2.9 gallons of denatured fuel ethanol, .8 pounds of corn oil, and 14.5 pounds of dried distillers grain which will be used for animal feed.

Ethanol is loaded onto rail cars at both facilities. Big River moves the majority of theirs via rail cars at the rate of three unit trains a month, each train consisting of 80 cars, with each car holding 29,000 gallons. The BNSF railroad services this plant. Semi trucks will take ethanol to be used in Illinois markets as well. A small portion of the ethanol produced provides raw material for a sanitizer production facility on site.

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CHS produces 130 million gallons of ethanol that is also loaded onto rail cars, with an average of 12 rail cars per day via the Iowa Interstate railroad. It is shipped to the East Coast to be mixed into fuel supplies.

Corn oil from both facilities is shipped via truck to biodiesel facilities across the midwest. It is also used in animal feeds.

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The largest by product of this process is the protein-laden, dry distillers grain, or DDG that is loaded into ocean going containers and shipped to Asian markets from CHS. CHS ships 50 containers daily. Big River ships DDG via both container and barges, with about 60% of production marketed locally.

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Deb Green, a spokesperson for Big River Resources summed up the process as such, ” Corn fields are nature’s solar panels. They are naturally removing C02 from the air, thus helping reduce greenhouse gasses. Ethanol plants use corn, making more use and need for nature’s solar panels.” READ MORE

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