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Today's ethanol industry is unrecognizable from the industry of just five years ago, and will be unrecognizable to the industry of five years from now. Renewable Fuels Association, Industry Outlook 2006
Jump to: Ethanol | Ethanol Incentives | Ethanol/MTBE | Cellulosic Ethanol | Texas E85 Pumps | Crops for Fuel | Ethanol Issues | Ethanol Factoids
Currently there are 143 U.S. ethanol plants with the combined capacity to produce 13.4 billion gallons per year of ethanol fuel, well above that required by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The industry is also building another 57 biorefineries and expanding seven existing biorefineries, an effort that will boost ethanol production capacity by another 5.2 billion gallons.
With increasing gasoline and natural gas prices, new legislative incentives, and innovative technologies for producing ethanol, new avenues are opening up for the production of ethanol and additional locations for ethanol biorefineries and ethanol stations are appearing in other parts of the nation, including Texas. At the federal level, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 gives a tremendous boost to the nation's small ethanol producers. Not only does the bill include strong biofuels tax
provisions that ensures and enhances the production and use
of ethanol and biodiesel, but it expands the small producer definition from 30 to 60 million gallons per year.
Texas Ethanol Plants
Ethanol
in Texas is a win for everyone — producers have
another market for their product, the environment gets
a break from pollution and rural communities get a shot
in the arm from value added production. Bill
Kubecka, Texas Grain Sorghum Association
Locating an ethanol biorefinery or installing an ethanol gas station in a rural area is seen as a major boost to local communities in terms of employment and the tax base. An outstanding example is a recent economic boon that came to the Texas city of Hereford as it welcomed one of the largest ethanol plants in the nation. The $120 million Hereford plant will refine corn and milo into the clean-burning fuel for vehicles and is expected to produce 100 million gallons of ethanol fuel each year from corn and milo. About 500 to 600 workers will be employed during construction of the plant. Once the plant is completed it will employ about 60 people.
Approximately half of the U.S. ethanol biorefineries are farmer-owned cooperatives, with many growing their own crops for the ethanol processing. These co-ops pool resources to raise the equity needed to build an ethanol plant in their regions. Several Texas plants are owned by co-ops. The following are plants announced or under construction in Texas. Industry experts project that by 2008 these plants will be producing 500 million gallons of ethanol per year. Texas corn and sorghum producers and cattle owners will be major contributors to these new markets.
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Levelland/Hockley
County Ethanol, LLC
Levelland (Panhandle)
40 million gallons/year
Feedstock: corn and milo
Completed
and operational in 2008
Levelland/Hockley County Ethanol, LLC is a privately-held
company, a group consisting of over 135 local farmers,
business owners and individuals. The plant is being
constructed on a 223 acre site. This dry mill refinery
will have an annual capacity to process approximately
15 million bushels of corn and milo (much of it provided
by local farmers) into 40 million gallons of ethanol
per year. The facilities have access to the rail line
for shipping ethanol to marketers outside the local
area.
The
Levelland plant will add approximately $64 million in
capitol value to the tax rolls of Hockley County, South
Plains College and Levelland Independent School District.
Additionally, the plant will distribute approximately
$20 million into the Levelland economy through a flow-down
effect. The Levelland plant began with 35 jobs with
an annual payroll of approximately $2.5 million, and
will maintain at least 30 employees for the following
5 years. See photos of the groundbreaking
and the construction
phases.
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White
Energy Holdings
Hereford (Panhandle)
100 million gallons/year
Feedstock: corn and milo
Completed and operational in January 2008
The plant adds 38 full-time jobs to the local community,
supports an additional 650 jobs, and provides an additional
$18 million in spendable income to the local economy.
It also will generate more than $100 million annually
into the construction economy. Hereford is the "Cattle
Capital of the World," providing a built-in market for
distillers wet grain, the primary by-product of the ethanol
production process, which is a high-protein feed supplement
used by the beef and dairy industries. |
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White
Energy Holdings
Plainview (in the Panhandle, 70 miles from Hereford)
100 million gallons/year
Feedstock: corn and milo
To be operational in 2008
The plant will add approximately 70 full-time jobs to
the local community. Both the Hereford and Plainview plants
share the same rail line and have nearly identical, state-of-the-art
designs. And both are strategically located near key markets
for ethanol and distillers wet grain. |
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Panda
Hereford Ethanol LP
Location: Hereford (Panhandle)
115 million gallons/year
Feedstock: corn and milo
Fuel: cattle manure & cotton gin waste
To be operational in 2008
This plant is the largest biomass-fueled ethanol refinery
in the U.S. About 500 to 600 workers are needed during
construction of the plant and after it is fully functional,
it will employ about 60 people on a permanent basis. The
$120 million facility is being constructed on a 383-acre
site. The steam used in the processing will be generated
by gasifying cattle manure. See the video
and camera
shots. |
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Panda
Ethanol
Location: Sherman County (Panhandle)
115 million gallons/year
Feedstock: corn and milo
Fuel: cattle manure biogas
Operational: To be announced
This plant is in the planning stage, and will be equal
in size to Panda's Hereford plant. It will refine 38
million bushels of corn and milo annually and generate
the steam used in processing by gasifying 1 billion
pounds of cattle manure per year. By using biogas to
fuel the plant, Panda is both conserving the energy
equivalent of 1,000 barrels of oil a day and helping
to address a significant environmental problem for the
Texas Panhandle. The refinery will be located on a 1,200-acre
site 3 miles northwest of Stratford and is expected
to create 138 jobs and over $220 million for Sherman
County's economy over the next 10 years. |
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Panda
Ethanol
Muleshoe (Panhandle)
115 million gallons/year
Feedstock: corn and milo
Fuel: cattle manure biogas
Operational: To be announced
This
ethanol refinery will be located on a 305-acre site eight
miles northwest of Muleshoe, Texas. It will be equal in
size to Panda's Hereford plant. By-products of the process
will include distillers grain, carbon dioxide and ash.
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BioFuels
Energy Corporation
Raymondville, Rio Grande Valley
4 million gallons/year
Operational: To be announced
The Raymondville plant in the Rio Grande Valley is in
the planning stage, and permits are still pending with
the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. It will
be Texas’ first cellulosic
ethanol plant, a demonstration distillery
to evaluate feedstocks used in the production of E85,
biodiesel, and aviation fuels. The company is also planning
a manufacturing facility to construct proprietary distillation
parts for cellulosic ethanol production. |
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Blackland
Ethanol Corporation
Temple, Central Texas
50 million gallons/year
Feedstock: corn and milo
Operational: To be announced
The
Central Texas Ag Development Board( an association of
farmers in ten Central Texas counties) and a group of
investors plans to build a $60 million to $80 million
alternative fuel plant in Temple, in the Blackland Prairie.
The plant is expected to produce about 50 million gallons
of fuel annually with expansion possibilities of up
to 100 million gallons and will initially employ 30-40
people. Temple has a railroad infrastructure
as well as easy access to the farmers of Central Texas
who produce corn and milo. |
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Panhandle
Energies
Dumas (Panhandle)
30 million gallons/year
Feedstock: corn and milo
Operational: To be announced
Once complete, the $40 million ethanol plant is expected
to produce 30 million gallons of ethanol per year and
employ 36 people with an annual payroll of $1.3 million.
The plant will produce a minimum of 30 million gallons
of ethanol annually. Panhandle Energies has reached an
agreement with Dumas Co-op of Dumas, Texas, to provide
about 1 million bushels of corn per month. |
Additional Resources
An Economic Examination of Potential Ethanol Production in
Texas
SECO commissioned this 2003 report by Texas A & M University's Department of Agricultural
Economics to provide a broad overview of ethanol production
and to evaluate its potential as an economic development strategy for Rural Texas. This abbreviated version of the full
report includes the Executive Summary and the Summary and Conclusions, Chapter
5 of the full report.
Ethanol Industry Outlook 2007
A Renewable Fuels Association publication.
Ethanol Industry Scrapbook 2007: Tales from the Heartland
A Renewable Fuels Association publication.
The U.S. Ethanol Industry: Where will it be located in the future?
This is a November 2005 study performed by the Agricultural Issues Center at the University of California.
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