Ethanol plant to rise on Raeford corn field

Raeford, N.C. — Construction is about to begin on the first ethanol plant in the Southeast, and it's in Raeford in Hoke County.

Currently, 130 ethanol refineries operate in the U.S., with another 76 under construction. Several companies planning to build in North Carolina have dropped their plans, raising questions about the viability of the industry here.

Clean Burn Fuels, however, is staking its claim to make the alternative fuel in North Carolina.

Today, the company’s site is 500 acres of farmland. Clean Burn Fuels, however, is planning a refinery that will turn corn into 75 million gallons of ethanol per year.

"It's about three-quarters of North Carolina's total ethanol demand,” company project manager Greg Carlisle said. Nationally, 21 states have ethanol-production facilities.

The refinery will bring 300 construction jobs to Hoke County and 100 full-time positions. County officials hope other industries may follow.

"We have a bio-diesel plant looking here also that we're probably going to locate on-site," County Manager Mike Wood said.

The ethanol plant may boost the local economy, but three other companies proposing similar plants backed out of North Carolina plans. E-85 Inc. dropped plans for a Cumberland County plant in May. Ethanol sites in Aurora and Jamesville also fell by the wayside.

One reason may be cost.

"It's very difficult to raise the necessary equity," Carlisle said.

Clean burn is a $100 million investment that may not have happened without 10 years of county tax abatements, and a $35 million guaranteed loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Capitol Broadcasting, the parent company of WRAL and WRAL.com, also is an investor in Clean Burn Fuels.

There's the issue of corn supply for making ethanol. The state already imports 400 million bushel of corn every year to feed livestock.

"We know it's putting pressure on our livestock producers," said Keith Walters of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. "The price at market for corn didn't keep up with the price for fertilizer and equipment needed to produce corn."

Clean Burn will have to import corn, but Carlisle said the North Carolina location helps in the economics there. Ethanol can be trucked to customers in the East for 10 cents a gallon rather than having to pay $1 a gallon for rail shipment from a more distant refinery.

The refinery in Hoke County should be up and running by March 2009.

In neighboring Robeson County, a Georgia company is planning to build a small-scale plant.

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Joe- the point is that they converted. They had the foresight to do so and now they are reaping the benefits, while we pay through the nose to states that support terrorism. Yes they utilized cane to do it, so what, we can grow cane, we can grow other various grains and grasses that can be converted too. The problem now is, instead of having an ongoing process for the past several years that would have allowed raw materials and the infrastructure to be built up wisely, we are now in a rush mode to make it happen quickly and corn is the only vast commodity available to do it.

TheWB
December 5, 2007 12:04 p.m.

"...how can you explain Brazil, they have totally switched and have very cheap energy without depending on any outside source?"

Easily: sugar cane grows there. Look it up to find out the relative energy cost-to-produce and yield of different biofuels. Sugar cane is viable; corn is not.

Joe Schmoe
December 5, 2007 10:59 a.m.

The problem, as I see it, is that we are 20-30 years too late converting to ethanol. We should have started back in the dark, dismal gas embargo days followed by the Jimmy Carter years, when fuel was through the roof and gas lines formed. That was when I first heard of ethanol and it seemed like a great idea, at that time corn, wheat, and cane were relatively cheap with abundant quantities available. Had we started converting then, we would by now, have supplies and the infrastructure necessary to sustain energy independence. Farmers would have gradually switched some of there crops to ethanol producing ones, hence, to a certain degree, they would have "subsidized" themselves along the way. For those who think it can't or shouldn't be done might be right in today's world, but how can you explain Brazil, they have totally switched and have very cheap energy without depending on any outside source?

TheWB
December 5, 2007 9:37 a.m.

Well let us all boo hoo about this plant being built. I talked to the guy that is going to be in charge of that job and I will be there in Feb. to help build it. I can't wait.

rnsjr
December 5, 2007 5:59 a.m.

Ethanol production keeps getting refined as more research is done. Gulf Ethanol Inc. and other companies are fast approaching production of ethanol from the corn stalk and not the corn. Corn stalks are just left in the fields (I know there is environmental value in doing so too). This technology also can use dried grass, possibly leaves, etc.