Ethanol grows into big business

Production plants getting bigger

Sunday, November 19, 2006

By JOHN R. PULLIAM

The Register-Mail

ABINGDON - With the excitement about a 100 million gallon ethanol plant proposed for Abingdon by Dial Energy Corp., one might assume everyone is west-central Illinois is an expert on the alternative fuel. That's not really the case, but people recognize 45 good-paying jobs at the ethanol plant as good news.

Farmers are aware the growing demand for corn and soybeans is an economic boon for them. For many people, their knowledge begins and ends with the knowledge that ethanol and biodiesel are alternative fuels.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, ethanol is a "clear, colorless liquid. ... In the United States each year, approximately 2 billion gallons are added to gasoline to increase octane and improve the emissions quality of gasoline."

When the price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline hit $3.09 a gallon, E85 cars that use "flex fuels" became part of motorists' vocabulary. When prices dropped back toward the $2 per gallon range, E85 was seemingly forgotten.

Blends of at least 85 percent ethanol are considered alternative fuels, according to the Department of Energy, under the Energy Policy of 1992. E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, is used in flexible fuel vehicles offered by many major auto manufacturers.

Ethanol plants of 20 or 30 million gallons per year were the norm until recently when the 100 million gallon plant proposed for Abingdon arrived on the scene.

"I think for a lot of people the thought is the larger the better," said Travis Taylor, president of Dial Energy. He said there are many proposed 100 million gallon plants "and that is because of improved technology."

According to the "ACE Handbook," published by the American Coalition for Ethanol, as recently as 2004, there were only six ethanol plant operating in Illinois, with three in the Peoria-Pekin area. Now, ethanol facilities are proposed for Canton, Princeton, Annawan, Abingdon and Galva, to name a few in this area. A plant in Rochelle was listed under construction.

Big River Resources LLC of West Burlington, Iowa, includes investors from the Galesburg area and is in operation.

When the handbook was published, only one of the ethanol plants was a 100 million gallon giant. Illinois is not Saudi Arabia, or even Texas, but by producing 30,000 barrels per day, it is the 14th largest oil producing state in the U.S. There are 16,859 oil producing wells in Illinois.

The proposed ethanol plant in Abingdon is expected to use 37 million bushels of corn per year. With an estimated 250 million bushels of corn grown in Knox and surrounding counties, it comes as little surprise the ethanol rush seems to have hit in this area.

According to the 2004 figures, 13 percent of the corn grown in Illinois went toward ethanol production. Illinois' 248 million gallons produced was second most in the U.S. in 2004.

Getting down to business

Taylor, Abingdon Mayor Stephen Darmer and a number of other individuals were in Springfield last week for meetings with state agencies and to apply for permits. Taylor said the feasibility study for the ethanol plant "should be done ... by mid-spring. The longest part of the timeline is air permitting. It's just a long, lengthy process. We hope to have it done by next summer."

Darmer said the delegation also will include his "water and sewer expert," Larry Lawson of Altona. He said the group was meeting with state Rep. Don Moffitt, R-Gilson, and state Sen. Dale Risinger, R-Peoria. The meetings in Springfield were set up by DCEO's Sal Garza of Galesburg.

Most of the jobs at the ethanol plant will be automated. There also will be a general manager, plant manager, accounting manager, chemical engineer, maintenance workers and production employees.

"There's some hourly and some salaried jobs," Taylor said. "But the hourly are very nicely paid positions."

The highest paid employees will earn about $100,000 annually, and the lower end in the $30,000 range, Taylor said, "all estimates, of course."

There also will be construction jobs as the facilities are built and other work for local firms. Steve Bruner of Bruner, Cooper and Zuck, Galesburg, said, "We've got a proposal in to them to do a feasibility study, some engineering and land surveying."

Bruner was aware of the Springfield delegation.

"I think they're trying to gain some economic support from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity," he said. Abingdon is considering establishing an enterprise zone or a tax increment financing district to help encourage Dial to invest in the area.

As ethanol plants - proposed or already operating - spring up like the corn and soybean crop in the summer, Taylor was asked if there is sufficient demand for all the facilities to be successful.

"Yes," he said, without hesitation." With all the ethanol plants producing, that still only gives us a fraction of our total consumption of foreign oil," Taylor said. "I believe ethanol is here to stay."