The Andersons, ICM Partner on Game-Changing Ethanol Plant
The Andersons and ICM, Inc. have partnered to launch Element LLC, a new ethanol plant in southeast Kansas that industry insiders are saying could be a “game changing” project.
Originally announced in March of this year, the $175 million project is currently in the initial phase of construction. Situated on the site of a demolished early generation ethanol plant near Wichita, Element is being engineered to integrate a number of new and emerging technologies in one facility to create a plant that could serve as a blueprint for future facilities across the entire ethanol industry.
The plant, which will blend The Andersons’ strength in grain transactions with ICM’s cutting-edge technological abilities, will have the annual capacity to produce 70 million gallons of ethanol, while maintaining the lowest carbon footprint for an ethanol plant to date. It will generate 80 percent of its electrical power from a gasification process that makes natural gas from burning wood waste, and will manufacture ethanol from both corn and corn fiber. This combination will enable the partners to sell ethanol on low-carbon markets such as California.
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