A34-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 23,2002
(Continued from Page
noted. He cautioned planners
against letting emotions guide
the selection process.
“You have to look at this as a
regional project,” he said.
Key factors for qualified sites
include high corn production in
the surrounding area, transpor
tation infrastructure includ
ing a mainline railroad, utilities
on the site, availability of low
cost energy, and community
support.
881 also looked at corn pro
duction and potential ethanol
production throughout the area,
and assessed market potential
for ethanol and its co-products,
dried distiller’s grain and carbon
dioxide.
Bryan recommended a facility
capable of producing 40 million
gallons of ethanol per year.
About 128,000 tons of dried dis
tiller’s grain feed at 25 per
cent protein or more would
also be generated.
In a good growing year, corn
produced within a 50-mile
radius of sites in the eastern part
of the study area could supply
such a plant, according to the
study.
In a bad year, that supply
could drop to 20 million gallons
or less of ethanol production po
tential, thereby increasing de
pendency on com from the
Midwest.
Ethanol Planners
For eastern Pennsylvania, the
25 to 30 cents per bushel above
the Chicago Mercantile Ex
change price for corn, however,
could be offset by strong local
markets for both ethanol and
dried distiller’s grains.
“Can you make an ethanol
plant profitable at $2.88 (per
bushel) com when you’re com
peting with $2.60 corn (in the
Midwest)?”
Turning corn into more valu
able products for nearby con
sumers should make it possible,
according to Bryan.
“It’s all about value-added,”
he said.
A plant producing 40 million
gallons of ethanol, 128,000 tons
of dried distiller grains, and
96,000 tons of carbon dioxide
per year in southcentral Penn
sylvania could add $1.60 per
bushel or a total of 22.8 mil
lion dollars to the value of the
com, according to Bryan’s fig
ures. Carbon dioxide, the least
valuable of the co-products,
could be used for beverage car
bonation and generate about 9
extra cents per bushel.
The ethanol plant would hire
32 fulltime employees and gen
erate more than $6O million per
year, with a total economic
impact of about $135 million.
Eighty-five percent of that reve
nue would be spent within a 75-
mile radius of the plant.
according to the study.
Bryan cited increasing
demand for ethanol in the U.S.,
with some states prohibiting the
fuel oxygenate MTBE because
of environmental hazards and
with U.S. Congress likely to
outlaw it.
Unlike MTBE, ethanol is
touted as a renewable and envi
ronmentally safe fuel oxygenate.
A national Renewable Fuel
Standard is also in the works. If
passed in Congress, it would re
quire the use of about five billion
gallons of ethanol by 2012, ac
cording to Bryan.
For the future of ethanol pro
duction, it will be important to
use sources other than just corn,
Bryan said.
Wood from overgrown forests
and most of the garbage sent to
landfills can also be turned into
ethanol, although that technol-
ogy is still in development to
make the process more efficient,
he said. Waste beer, fruit juices,
and cheese whey are examples
of some of the materials being
used sucessfully today.
Corn producers and economic
development leaders began early
last year to investigate the possi
bility of an ethanol plant in the
area.
An ethanol steering commit
tee grew out of that joint interest
between area farmers and eco
nomic development leaders.
Dan Wolf, Stewartstown-area
corn grower and steering com
mittee chairman, said the study
is a positive indicator for
moving ahead on the project.
“I’m gratified that the num
bers (shown in the study results)
are about what we expected,’’
Wolf said.
Scott Welsh, an ag economic
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development specialist, was also
hired last fall by the York
County Economic Development
Corporation to work on the
ethanol project and other ag ini
tiatives.
The steering committee and
the YCEDC will next focus on
business organization and mem
bership, site selection, and fur
ther market analyses for the
project.
Bryan said that the majority
of U.S. ethanol facilities lo
cated mostly in the Upper Mid
west are farmer-owned
cooperatives.
The amount of grain that
shareholders are required to
commit to ethanol production
can vary according to the rules
of the cooperative. That is one of
the questions southcentral Penn
sylvania leaders will address as
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