September 20, 2017
By Mark Dorenkamp
The CEO of an ethanol plant in southeast Minnesota says area corn farmers will benefit from an ongoing construction project.
Randy Doyal with Al-Corn Clean Fuel in Claremont tells Brownfield the 50 million-gallon facility is being updated to become more efficient.
“I know that the producers who sell to Al-Corn are licking their chops because they know we’re going to really increase our corn draw. That means our local corn price is going to go up.”
When finished, the Al-Corn plant will generate some of its own electricity using a combined heat and power (CHP) unit.
“What it really is (like) is a jet engine. And this jet engine doesn’t burn kerosene, it burns natural gas. As it spins and turns the generator to generate electricity. We’ll be generating about as much power as we use in the current plant, so not quite half of what we’re going to be using in the future. But a nice amount.”
Doyal says the CHP system also produces steam for the plant by taking exhaust and running it through a boiler.
“So we’re generating both electricity and steam off the same BTU of natural gas. That makes it really efficient.”
The Al-Corn expansion and modernization project is expected to be completed by next spring.
Read the original story and listen to the full interview: Al-Corn Ethanol Project Will Benefit Area Corn Farmers