URBANDALE, Iowa - The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) leadership is pleased that construction has begun for a new 5-million-gallon biodiesel plant and soybean crush facility south of Galva, Iowa. Maple River Energy, LCC, is building the biodiesel plant adjacent to the Quad County Corn Processors facility. The biodiesel plant is designed to produce 5 million gallons of biodiesel annually.

“This project is extra special to soybean farmers because it is adding soybean processing capacity to the state and that gives farmers another market for their soybeans,” says Curt Sindergard, ISA president-elect and a soybean farmer near Rolfe, Iowa.

“This plant will not only produce fuel but also high quality protein feed for livestock,” says Sindergard.

The Maple River Energy, LLC, project includes a crushing facility that will convert 3 million bushels of soybeans into soybean meal and soybean oil. The facility will produce about 75,000 tons of soybean meal annually. The soybean oil will make approximately 3.5 million gallons of biodiesel. When practical, corn feedstocks will be used to meet the 5-million-gallon biodiesel annual production capacity. In addition to the fuel, 500,000 gallons of glycerin will be produced and marketed.

“We believe it’s a good idea to utilize our products in our own markets. With this flexible system, we can process soybeans that we already have and use, and do it on site,” says Delayne Johnson of Galva, Iowa. He manages the Galva Holstein Ag, LLC, and will be general manager of Maple River Energy, LLC. 

“Currently, we transport soybeans 60 miles for crushing, which incurs handling, trucking and fuel costs. Instead of trucking soybeans out and then back in, we’re constructing and establishing our own value-added stream locally,” says Johnson.

The plant is scheduled to begin operation in early fall 2008. Total cost of the new plant is estimated at $20 million and will provide 15 full-time jobs for Ida County. An equity drive held earlier this year raised $10 million for the project.

“Iowa is the leading biodiesel-producing state in the nation. Iowa currently has 13 biodiesel plants with the capacity to produce 258.5 million gallons of biodiesel a year. In 1998, the United States produced only 500,000 gallons annually. We have progressed a long way in a short time,” said Grant Kimberley, ISA director of market development.

According to a USDA study, every 200 million gallons of biodiesel demand increases the price of soybeans by 17 cents a bushel. The Iowa Soybean Association and Iowa's soybean farmers have long supported the biodiesel industry in Iowa and nationally. Since 1992, the ISA and other state and national checkoffs have invested more than $50 million in biodiesel research and promotion.