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Missouri's newest ethanol plant produces both fuel and food
Aug. 27, 2007

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. -- LifeLine Foods launched Missouri's newest ethanol plant here last week. Members of the National Corn Growers Association and Missouri Corn Growers Association as well as state and community leaders participated in the open house and ribbon-cutting at the new site.

"This innovative farmer-owned plant is a welcome addition to Missouri's ethanol industry," said Gary Marshall, chief executive officer with MCGA, said at the event Aug. 24. "The strategic expansion of ethanol production in this state is helping meet the growing demand for alternative fuels at the pump. It is also adding dollars to the local economy and increasing the basis for local corn while helping reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Today's event is great news for St. Joseph, great news for the state of Missouri and great news for the corn and ethanol industries."

The ethanol plant joins LifeLine Foods' corn processing facility, established in 2001 by a group of corn farmers looking for ways to add value to their product. Since then, LifeLine has been an ingredient manufacturer for dry cereal and the snack industry as well as tortillas. Thanks to an innovative partnership with designer and builder ICM, Inc, the majority farmer-owned facility will now possess the capability to produce both food and fuel.

"We are very, very excited, and so are the ICM engineers. It is what we'd call a new-generation facility," said LifeLine Foods President and CEO Bill Becker.

This new generation ethanol facility features a mill in the front of the plant that separates the corn kernel into its component parts. This technique enables increased utilization of the starch within the kernel. The resulting higher-quality starches will be used for food customers, while the lower-quality starches will be used to produce ethanol. This process helps ensure the availability of corn for both food and fuel needs.

"Nationwide there have been some concerns about the ethanol industry coming online and taking away from human foods," Becker said. "People may not realize it, but only about 1.5 percent of the entire corn crop is targeted toward dry milled human food."

"Farmers have responded tremendously," he added. "We have an increase in ethanol production this year of about 2 billion gallons nationwide. Farmers have responded to increased demand with about 2.5 billion more bushels of corn this year than the previous year," said Becker.

Not only is LifeLine Foods working to provide food and fuel, but they are approaching this task with the environment in mind.

"Corn is grown from solar energy. Corn captures those rays and converts that energy into starch. It also breaths CO2 ... capturing some of the things causing greenhouse gases. We take that starch and convert that into energy and food," said Becker.

The plant also utilizes the fiber found within the corn kernel. While most plants use this during the fermentation process, LifeLine will separate this fiber and burn it to produce energy. This process reduces the plant's dependence on natural gas and allows the plant to generate its own fuel.

Trial runs for ethanol production are expected to begin around Sept. 3 with actual production scheduled to come online near mid-September. The state of the art ethanol facility will consume approximately 26.5 million bushels of corn annually to produce 50 million gallons of ethanol and complementary food ingredients. This facility will employ 35 people and also contains a cutting edge pilot plant and a research and development lab for ICM.

LifeLine Foods is the fifth ethanol plant to begin production in the state of Missouri. Other farmer-owned ethanol plants are located near Macon, Craig, Malta Bend and Laddonia. With LifeLine's contribution, Missouri's ethanol production is slated to exceed 225 million gallons annually.

SOURCE: Missouri Corn Growers Association.

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