Husker AG

Source: Energy Exec

Date :12/12/2007 06:31:55

Husker Ag is a value-added producer of Ethanol. Ethanol production is set to rise and it is well placed to deal with increasing demand

Written by Ian Armitage and produced by Nick Ledue

Established in March 2003, Husker Ag is an ethanol production facility built by Fagen Inc. of Granite Falls, MN and designed by ICM of Colwich, KS. Located in Plainview, Nebraska, the facility utilizes over nine million bushels of corn per year to produce over 26 million gallons of denatured ethanol. A secondary product is dried distillers grains, which are the corn components that remain after the starch is converted to ethanol.

A majority producer-controlled ethanol venture, Husker Ag currently employs 34 full time workers from several surrounding communities including Norfolk, Pierce, Randolph, Osmond, Plainview, Creighton, Brunswick and Orchard. It also produces about 185,000 tons of modified wet distiller grain per year, which is fed by area cattle feeders.

How it works

The traditional operating procedure of ethanol plants for processing dried distiller grains is to mechanically dry this byproduct from 70 percent moisture content down to ten percent, and then market it as livestock feed. This drying process consumes large amounts of natural gas.

Husker Ag, on the other hand, currently markets its dried distiller grains byproduct as a modified product containing about 55 percent moisture, reducing the amount of natural gas consumed and earning a substantial annual decrease in energy costs. Air emissions are also significantly reduced.

Ethanol production is presently in excess of 30 million gallons per year, an output which exceeds the facility’s estimated projections. Byproduct revenues have contributed more than $6 million this year alone.

Husker Ag has more than 500 members, about 70 percent of whom are agricultural producers. Employment at the plant has increased considerably in recent years, thanks in the main to the development of the new byproduct. In 2006, it also received a $226,850 Value-Added Producer Grant (VAPG) from USDA Rural Development, which the company matched.

The USDA Rural Development grant allowed Husker Ag to employ a byproducts merchandiser and to supplement the salaries of the plant maintenance manager and plant lab manager to proceed with its distiller grain production. This hugely benefited area feedlots and member-producers. Additionally, these funds helped to purchase corn inventory for production purposes.

Increasing demand

The Husker Ag ethanol plant has increased local demand for corn, resulting in a higher local corn price. Farmers used to be paid a wholesale commodity price for their corn which, in turn, was shipped out of the immediate area. At present, Husker Ag pays an average of five-to-ten cents per bushel over the current corn market price. Since the plant is located closer to the producers’ operations than other traditional markets, local farmers haul their own corn as opposed to having it trucked for them, saving on trucking costs and increasing their income.

Future debate

Current interest in ethanol fuel in the US lies in the sort of bio-ethanol that Husker Ag produces. Made from corn, it is hoped ethanol will replace fossil fuels in vehicles. However, there have been many questions marks surrounding how useful bio-ethanol is.

Ethanol currently constitutes a small fraction of the US fuel supply, but domestic production capacity has more than doubled since 2001 to over 4.5 billion gallons per year. Production is likely to rise over the next few years.

Today, most cars on the road in the US can run on blends of up to ten percent ethanol, and motor vehicle manufacturers already produce vehicles designed to run on much higher ethanol blends. Ford DaimlerChrysler and GM are among the automobile companies that sell flexible-fuel cares, trucks and minivans that can use gasoline and ethanol blends ranging from pure gasoline up to 85 percent ethanol.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association there are 115 US ethanol distilleries in operation and many more under construction, with capacity to produce 11.8 billion gallons within the next few years. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) predicts in its Annual Energy Outlook 2007 that ethanol consumption will reach 11.2 billion gallons by 2012.

At present, the US ethanol production industry consists of 115 plants operating in nineteen states, producing nearly seven billion gallons - a 38 percent increase over 2006. Many more plants are under development and due to come on line in 2008 and 2009, increasing US production capacity to nearly twelve billion gallons. This will generate a number of jobs, increase farm income and will help us save the world we live in.