Spiritwood plant is a market | for 140,000 corn acres Plant adds jobs, adds value to corn, livestock farmers SPIRITWOOD, N.D.- An ethanol plant This plant receives all of its corn via is a market for corn, but also a source of truck, meaning much of it comes from 30 jobs, and value to livestock feed that more to 40 miles away. directly benefits farmers. North Dakota's ethanol plants consume Adam Dunlop, Midwest AgEnergy direc- about half of the corn that's grown in the tor of regulatory and technical services, re- state, Dunlop says. "You get proximate cently offered Agweek a tour of the Dakota to one of these plants and the percent is Spirit AgEnergy facility at the Spiritwood probably higher," he says. N.D) Industrial Park. The company also Ethanol steps owns and operates the Blueflint Ethanol plant at Underwood, N.D. The two plants ries of steps: are among five ethanol plants across the Service/Agweek/Trevor Peterson) The Dakota Spirit plant nameplate is 65 million gallons a year, but it produces at about 74 million gallons. It grinds about 25 million bushels of corn, which is Photo talken Nov. 13, 2018, Spiritwood, N.D. (Forum News roughly the production from 140.000 acre can be stored for long periods. storing. Trucks come Receiving, drying, into the plant, and the corn is weighed, Shipping the ethanol in railcars for re There has also been some growth in live graded and stored. The Spiritwood plant fineries to blend into fuel. This can be to Similarly, if North Dakota motorists used Midwest ut 40 at Spiritwood, includes a dryer, which allows the plant to includes a dryer, which allows the plant to numerous refineries in North America. h was built in 2014 and started opbring in high-moisture corn ating April 2015. It was among the last in a series of plants built in the state and nation more, higherlevel blends of ethanol in . Shipping the dried distillers grains. fuel, that too would add value to facilities Grinding. The plant uses a hammer-Most of the product is used domestically in the community and the corn g Mixing flour with enzymes, water and also exports product to Mexico, and to the of ethanol production livestock feeding operations. The company The U.S. has more than 16 billion gallons The Dakota Spirit plant nameplate is 65 million gallons a year, but it produces about 76 million gallons. It grinds about 25 from complex starches into simple su million bushels of corn, which is roughly the production from 140,000 acres. heat, which starts breaking down the flour Pacific Northwest to China, among other consumption is about 5 billon gallons. Exports have taken that 1.5 billion gallons as a low-cost option as an octane enhancer It also allows for more thorough combus- tion of gasoline, which is good for the en a process that several hours "In the wintertime, when people have Fermenting the flour, a process of more cattle on feed, 'lel a lttle more about 60 hours. They add a second enzyme modified, Dunlop says, of the distillers to break the starches into glucose. They grains. "In the summertime, when most add yeast to consume the glucose, which North Dakota cattle are out on grass, we'll produces carbon dioxide and a 15 percent dry almost all of our product," Dunlop says President Donald Trump recently cheered the industry by voicing support for making E15 the standard as an octane-en hancer for regular gasoline up from the current 10 percent ethanol blend that most Producing a 190-proof alcohol stream adding more value to agriculture in North Americans use. E15 theoretically could be that goes through a "molecular sieve, to Dakota," he says. Instead of shipping feed 10 to 15 cents per gallon cheaper than Eio If more of the feed product was used re Distilling the alcoholseparate the gionally for livestock production, it would alcohol from the water and non-fer-benefit North Dakota, Dunlop says. "Lim- iting the transportation, having an outlet, mentables in the process. take it to 200 proof, or "pure" alcohol. This to animals elsewhere, it would ut eery potentially building long-term demand. is pumped to a storage unit. use for drying as well "That's the great It would take time, and not all engines would convert, Dunlop says. E15 is com age." The stillage becomes goes through a At one time, distillers grains traded at patible with l 2001 vehicles and newer Photo taken Nov. 13, 2018 Spiritwood, N.D. cerifuge to to the product to 65 percent about 90 percent to the value of corn, but according to the Environmental Protection Removing water from "whole sil opportunity," he says. Peterson) Adam Dunlop, Midwest AgEnergy LLC moisture, often called "wet cake" distillers grain. The plant staff further dries it to a 5o relative value of corn, on a per-ton basis. now the norm is 11o to 120 percent of the Agency director of regulatory and technical percent moisture to produce a modified" As the ethanol industry has grown, the services, recently is flanked by the product for local livestock feeding. They distillers grains have displaced some of Dakota Spirit AgEnergy facility at the dry to a 10 percent moisture for true dried the other products that were already being distillers grains, that are "flowable and used by the region's livestock producers. COR Spiritwood (N.D.) Industrial Park. North Dakota Ethanol CoundUNci Service/Agweek/Trevor Peterson The Dakota Spirit AgEnergy plant dries distillers grains to a 50 percent moisture Photo taken Nov. 13, 2018, Spiritwood, N.D. (Forum News Service/Agweek/Trevor Peterson) "modified" product for regional cattle feeding. They dry the product to a 10 percent Dakota Spirit AgEnergy uses large dryers to prepare distillers grains to a for use moisture for true dried distillers grain, which is "flowable" for transporting and long- Now. 13, 2018, Spiritwood, N.D. (Forum News in livestock feed, both locally and around the world. storage