The conversion plan was revealed last Thursday, October 5, by plant operator Broin Cos, which operates six commercial refineries in Iowa, the highest volume ethanol producing state in the US.
Despite the national push towards ethanol production, traditional corn-based ethanol can only provide a small percentage of the more than 150 billion litres of transport fuel used in the US each year.
The converted ethanol facility will attempt to use corn stover – the leaves and stalk of the plant – as a feedstock, as it represents the bulk of the biomass available from corn crops. The process technology will be supplied by project partner DuPont, which announced its cellulosic ethanol research initiatives earlier this year
“We believe that taking the stover is a natural next step as we move towards ultimately getting some 30 to 60 billion gallons of ethanol, which we all know is going to have to come from some feedstock other than corn," Broin vice-president of corporate development Mike Muston told the DesMoines Register.
Upon completion of the conversion, the use of corn crop waste is expected to increase production at the facility from 50 million gallons of ethanol a year to 125 million gallons.
