Hot Spots: 10 Advanced Bioeconomy Places to Watch in Iowa

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Eddyville, Fort Dodge, Clinton, Newton, Cedar Rapids. Communities like these have been mainstays of the Iowa bioeconomy for years, even decades — home to corn and soy processing on the largest world scale, and much much more — integrated complexes of advanced refining where companies share infrastructure and often where the residues of the one process become feedstocks for another. They’ve been to farm products what fossil fuel hot spots like the Baytown, Texas mega-complex have meant to oil refining.

Now, they have company. A new generation of technologies are coming forward, and a new generation of technologists. Research centers have become the focal point for Iowa’s future, and a slew of new bioindustrial towns — some famed for many years for their role in the bioeconomy, some emerging out of relative obscurity. They’re clean, they’re green, they’re growing, they’re an engine for the economies around them — and unusually and deeply interconnected not only to their R&D roots but to the existing bioeconomy infrastructure. They are linking the city and countryside in an unforgettable manner.

Where’s the action? From projects to process for new fuels, chemicals, materials and wealth creation – here are 10 places where the advanced bioeconomy future is being unveiled.

1. Ames

Ames is becoming to Iowa what Stanford and Palo Alto has meant in the history of Silicon Valley. Not only a place of technology development, but of remarkable imagination.

The catalyst for this Iowa review in fact is this remarkable paper by Brent H. Shanks and Peter L. Keeling of the Center for Biorenewable Chemicals (CBiRC), based at Iowa State University in Ames. Shanks and center leaders are proposing a new model for creating, applying and commercializing chemicals made from biomass. The model calls for identifying “bioprivileged molecules” that offer unique properties that could lead to new products.

The paper is a must-read for theoreticians and practitioners in the advanced bioeconomy and is here.

2. Des Moines

The catalyst for success in Iowa has been its remarkably bipartisan and forward-thinking economic development policies — and all that is hashed out in Des Moines.

In May we reported that then-Governor Terry Branstad (now US Ambassador to China) has signed the Rebuild Iowa Infrastructure Fund bill (HF 643), which provides $3 million to fund the Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program.

3. Nevada

It’s Ne-VAY-da, rather than Ne-VAH-da, you won’t find Donny & Marie or Celene Dion in residence, but you will find here in Nevada the DuPont Cellulosic Ethanol plant here — the world’s largest of its type and representing in many ways to the advanced bioeconomy what The Mirage represented to Las Vegas — a real catalyst for future growth.

4. Emmetsburg

In the northwest corner of the state and not on the road to anywhere in particular except perhaps the 22nd century is the small town of Emmetsburg, which looms large in advanced bioeconomy circles because of the POET-DSM cellulosic ethanol commercial plant ramping up there. Somehow, not long ago, the King of the Netherlands found his way here to inspect the goings on — and the town barks louder than its population. It’s become a fascinating home to the latest in cellulosic biomass harvesting equipment sales, too.

5. Boone

Just a few miles to the west of Ames is the smaller town of Boone, which is how to the remarkable BioCentury Research Farm.

6. Galva

A strong advance just appeared on the radar this week, in Galva, home of Quad County Corn Processors.

7. Afton

In March we reported that a demonstration by an Iowa farm cooperative aims to persuade more farmers in the state to use biodiesel. United Farmers Cooperative, based at Afton in southern Iowa, put two trucks head-to-head to compare how blends of 5% and 20% biodiesel (B5 and B20) performed. The B20 truck won.

8. Clinton

In June we reported that Phyco2 said that is shifting its focus to meet the growing market demand for algae production....

9. Atlantic

Last December we reported that construction is set to start early in the new year on a new $196 million corn-based ethanol plant in Cass County. With an eye on producing about 120 million gallons of fuel annually, Elite Octane are still finalizing an agreement with county officials over the exact details regarding tax rebates, infrastructure investment and other details but developers are confident a deal will be agreed soon so construction can begin. The plant should be commissioned in June 2018.

10. Shenandoah

We have reported over the years on progress with the BioProcess Algae project, co-located at the Green Plains Renewable Energy plant in Shenandoah, in the far southwest corner of the state. BPA, LLC designs, builds, and operates commercial scale Grower HarvesterTM bioreactors that enable efficient conversion of light and CO2 into high value microbial feedstock. It’s now at a 5-acre demonstration scale, expected to be the final step before active commercialization at Shenandoah and other sites. READ MORE