Ethanol producer Corn Plus is on the cutting edge of efforts to reduce and eliminate dangerous air pollutants
By James Buchanan
In the early 1990s, the federal government implemented a program under the auspices of the Clean Air Act which required certain areas of the country to use cleaner burning gasoline blends in order to reduce air pollution.
Places such as the Northeast, areas of California and around certain urban centers where smog and air pollution had become serious health threats, were required to use what is commonly known as reformulated gasoline (RFG) — which is gasoline blended with an oxygenate such as MtBE or ethanol. Oxygenates help engines burn cleaner and reduces the amount of carbon monoxide and other dangerous air pollutants such as benzene emitted into the air.
Most states primarily relied on MtBE to meet the federally mandated oxygenate requirements, while a few others used ethanol. In all, RFG is used in 17 states, and represents approximately 30 percent of all of the gasoline sold in the U.S.
Further, the use of RFG worked to significantly reduce air pollution in these areas.
According to the EPA, the first phase of use was intended to reduce smog causing air pollutants by approximately 64,000 tons per year in the areas using RFG. The second phase — which is the current phase of the program — is intended to cut emissions by another 41,000 tons per year in these areas.
Despite the success at reducing air pollution in these specific areas, a second concern soon emerged. MtBE is highly soluble in water, and in small amounts is able to contaminate large areas of underground drinking water aquifers.
Further, MtBE is a suspected carcinogen and known to be a toxic substance. In states where MtBE was used as an oxygenate, significant numbers of drinking water supplies were being contaminated with MtBE.
That prompted the states of New York and California to ban MtBE and replace it with ethanol. Other states soon followed suit and have switched to ethanol to meet their relative RFG requirements.
Suddenly ethanol became a hot commodity, causing plants to literally blossom in America’s heartland, where corn production can feed the need for increasing volumes of this preferred oxygenate.
One of these plants is Corn Plus, located in Winnebago, Minn.
Corn Plus is one of the largest plants in Minnesota, and is able to produce 49 million gallons of corn-based ethanol annually.
Like many of the other ethanol plants constructed in the Midwest, Corn Plus is a cooperative that is locally owned, supported, financed, and marketed.
Further, Corn Plus is seeking to research and implement innovative new areas of corn processing such as corn oil extraction, biotechnology in the extraction of medical proteins, corn germ extraction, and producing value-added corn gluten products.
The cooperative has also led the industry with implementation of its fluidized bed boiler that burns concentrated corn syrup — which is a byproduct of ethanol production — for fuel for the plant. As such, burning the syrup has helped cut the amount of natural gas the cooperative used to produce ethanol, which in turn lowered Corn Plus’ overall fuel costs.
According to Alliant Energy, which developed the system for Corn Plus, the Fluidized bed is expected to displace approximately 70 percent of the natural gas used by the company, leading to potential savings of $5 to $6 million annually.
According to Ethanol Producer magazine, the organization’s implementation of the fluidized bed, “Very well could have been the impetus needed to spark an energy revolution in the ethanol industry.”
To make its plant even more energy independent and efficient, Corn Plus has added two wind turbines to its property that are expected to provide approximately 45 percent of the electricity the plant requires.
According to a report in the Mankato Free Press, the two turbines will produce a combined 4.2 megawatts of power. The turbines are being produced and installed by Renewable Energy Solutions and John Deere Wind Energy. The turbines are made by Suzlon Energy.
While these efforts should go a long way toward energy efficiency and independence, and have set a model for other ethanol producers to follow, they also come after the company and 11 other ethanol producers in Minnesota reached a civil settlement with the EPA for Clean Air Act violations.
According to an October 2, 2002, press release issued by the EPA, the government alleges that the facilities were operating in violation of the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review provisions. These require plants to install pollution controls and undertake other preconstruction obligations to control air pollution emissions.
The settlement, says the press release, ensures that each plant install air pollution control equipment to greatly reduce emissions such as volatile organic compounds, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and other hazardous pollutants.
“The Minnesota plants are leading the way by installing the appropriate controls and greatly reducing their emissions. These settlements will set the standard in the ethanol manufacturing industry and we hope others will follow quickly,” said John Peter Suarez, EPA’s assistant administrator for enforcement and compliance assurance, in the press release.