A Cargill subsidiary, Emerald Renewable Energy, plans to develop four 100 million-gallon-per-year ethanol plants in the midwestern US.
The newly formed company said it was considering several potential sites in the ‘cornbelt’, including greenfield locations as well as co-locations with Cargill grain elevators and other utility infrastructure providers. The plants are expected to create about 40 jobs per location.
Cargill said that each plant will use nearly 40 million bushels of corn annually and produce 100 million gallons of ethanol and over 300,000 tons of dry distillers grains for animal feed each year.
Emerald Renewable Energy is a company formed by Cargill to develop and invest in renewable energy projects in the US. Cargill will provide the initial development capital for the projects.
Emerald Renewable Energy will have access to Cargill’s world-class expertise in trading, sourcing corn, plant construction and operations, risk management and bulk commodity transportation, said Scott Portnoy, Cargill corporate vice president with responsibility for its Biofuels and Bioproducts businesses.