The VeraSun plant in Bloomingburg is online, making it the fourth operating ethanol facility in Ohio.
Ethanol plant operational Bloomingburg facility fourth in Ohio, will produce 110 million gallons
Ryan Carter Staff Writer
VeraSun Energy Corp., one of the nation's largest ethanol producers, has announced the startup of its 110 million gallon per year production facility located near Bloomingburg.
With the closing of the merger between VeraSun and US BioEnergy becoming effective April 1, the Bloomingburg biorefinery represents the 11th VeraSun facility in operation, pushing the company's annual operating capacity to more than 1 billion gallons.
"We are pleased to bring our biorefinery in Bloomingburg online and begin to produce ethanol in the state of Ohio," said VeraSun CEO Don Endres. "The startup of this facility is a significant event for the community of Bloomingburg and a major milestone for VeraSun as our annual operating capacity exceeds the billion gallon mark. There has been tremendous growth in the demand for biofuels since the company was founded in 2001. This is a testament to what is possible when communities, industry and leadership work together to achieve a goal."
In addition to the 11 current operating facilities, VeraSun expects to start up five more facilities in 2008, increasing its overall production capacity to 1.64 billion gallons and becoming the largest ethanol producer in the nation, according to Endres.
The Bloomingburg facility is the fourth operating ethanol production facility in the state of Ohio and one of the three biorefineries VeraSun purchased from ASAlliances Biofuels, LLC in August 2007. Total production capacity at the Bloomingburg facility represents more than 30 percent of Ohio's total capacity of 345 million gallons per year.
"The ethanol produced in Bloomingburg will extend our domestic fuel supply and find its way into the marketplace as a low-carbon, high-octane component," Endres said. "The community of Bloomingburg and surrounding areas of Fayette County should be commended for the role they are playing in further reducing our dependence on foreign oil."
Located off State Route 238 Northeast, the plant will employ just over 50 people and annually process approximately 39 million bushels of corn to produce about 350,000 tons of distillers grains for livestock feed. Cargill will provide marketing services for the facility's ethanol and distillers grains.
"On behalf of the village of Bloomingburg, Union Township and Fayette County, Ohio, we are very pleased that the new VeraSun Energy ethanol plant is operational," said Rob Hedrick, director for the Fayette County Economic Development office. "It has taken over three years to bring this massive project to fruition, requiring the coordination and cooperation between private enterprise, local, state and federal entities. We feel that VeraSun Energy will bring a positive economic impact to our area and we welcome them to our community."
Fayette County Commissioner Tony Anderson spoke about how impressive it is that farmers like Ron Rockhold, Roger Bonham of Ohio Corn Growers, Jeff Sollars of the Ohio Soybean Association, and Commissioner Bob Peterson, Ohio Farm Bureau have spent "so much of their time to lobby for these plants."
"For me that kind of grass roots volunteerism is only part of what continues to make Fayette County a great place to raise families and farm," said Anderson.
"A lot of hard fruitful effort has been put into place from Steve Luebbe (Fayette County Engineer) to do all that's possible to ensure that resources have been put into place to help VeraSun come online," he said. "To VeraSun's credit, they have within reason opened their doors to the Washington C.H. Fire Department to bring an understanding of the massive safety protocol that is in place, and then for Fire Chief Dan Fowler to visit with surrounding volunteer fire chiefs to help bring them up to speed, is truly a picture of cooperative effort being promoted within our county."
VeraSun Energy Corporation, headquartered in Brookings, South Dakota, is a leading producer of renewable fuel. Founded in 2001, the company has more than one billion gallons per year of ethanol production capacity through 11 operating facilities. Six facilities are currently either under construction or development with a combined capacity of 660 million gallons per year.
Upon completion of the new facilities, VeraSun Energy will have an annual production capacity of approximately 1.75 billion gallons. The company announced it started construction at its Aurora facility to extract oil from dried distillers grains, a co-product of the ethanol process, for use in biodiesel production.
VeraSun markets E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline for use in Flexible Fuel Vehicles, directly to fuel retailers under the brand VE85. VeraSun now has approximately 150 VE85 retail locations under contract in more than 15 states and Washington, D.C.
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