Synergizing Production

by Katie Schroeder (Ethanol Producer Magazine) As a food mill and ethanol plant reunite under the same owner, the new combined company works to integrate the two parties’ operations by building on the legacy of utilizing corn to make fuel, flour, animal feed and more.

The LifeLine Foods mill has a long history in St. Joseph, Missouri. Originally owned by Quaker Oats, the facility’s design supported the processing of a variety of crops, including wheat, oats and corn. A farmer’s co-op, AgraMarke Quality Foods Inc., bought the vacant breakfast mill in 2001 and transformed it to focus solely on corn-derived food ingredients.

In 2005, LifeLine approached Dave VanderGriend of ICM about building an ethanol plant on its campus, situated next door to the mill and using the hominy waste stream as a feedstock. Since the ethanol plant’s startup in 2007, the connection between the two facilities allows food production with near zero waste. The 50 MMgy ethanol plant was operated under the LifeLine name for several years but was leased to ICM in 2014. ICM operated the facility separate from LifeLine Foods, though the ethanol plant continued using the byproduct stream from the mill.

Turnspire Capital Partners LLC recognized the opportunity for improved operation by acquiring and recombining LifeLine Foods and ICM Biofuels. In June 2025, the company hired Jeremy Bezdek as a consultant to help with due diligence, and the transactions closed in November 2025.

A New Chapter
After the combination, Bezdek accepted the position as CEO of the newly created The LifeLine Group—the new name encapsulating LifeLine Foods and ICM Biofuels into one company. The LifeLine Group employs 224 people, serving as a substantial employer for the St. Joseph area. The food products facility will keep the “LifeLine Foods” name, but the ethanol plant’s name will change from “ICM Biofuels,” to “LifeLine Biofuels” to reflect the acquisition and merger.

Multiple corn varieties—yellow, white and non-GMO—are purchased after testing for mycotoxins. The food ingredient facility utilizes all three types of corn, while the ethanol plant only takes yellow corn.

Alongside snack meal and masa flour, LifeLine Foods produces other starch-based products including brewer’s grits and a non-food product used in the construction industry.

As more products were added to the food ingredient process, less hominy waste was sent to the ethanol plant, necessitating the addition of a hammer mill in the ethanol facility. Whole corn now makes up 65% of the ethanol plant’s feedstock, while the hominy waste constitutes the other 35%. Most food ingredients produced at LifeLine Foods are derived from the starch portion of a corn kernel, leaving behind the oil-rich germ in the hominy waste. The extra germ in the feedstock mix leads to higher-than-normal oil yields, Bezdek explains, with the ethanol plant’s oil production standing at about 20 million pounds per year.

LifeLine Fuels also produces dried distillers grains and wet distillers grains, which are sold as livestock feed. Both types of distillers grains are sold locally, but DDGs are distributed farther afield as well.

Investing in the Community
The two facilities provide over 200 jobs in the St. Joseph area, a predominantly blue-collar community with a strong background in manufacturing.

LifeLine works with technical college programs at local high schools, giving students hands-on experience in the trades.

Abundant growth options are available for multiple products, including masa flour production and extruded building material products, and several concepts are under consideration, Bezdek explains. For the ethanol side of the company, process efficiency improvements and the resulting carbon intensity score reductions would better the plant’s profitability. READ MORE