Plans for a new cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in North Dakota

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New Energy Investors is planning to build a cellulosic ethanol plant at the Spiritwood Industrial Park near Jamestown (North Dakota, USA). According to local media (see news in Grand Forks Herald), the 13 million-gallon biorefinery will be fed with stalks and leaves of corn plants and wheat straw from a 50-mile radius. The plant would employ 40 people on site and contract about 100 more for trucking and services. After breaking ground, the plant would be built in 24 months with commissioning planned for 2019.

The company is seeking $125,000 from the North Dakota Agricultural Products Utilization Commission for a three-month feasibility study. There are a lot of investors interested but no committed investments and this study would allow to ensure positive positions. The pre-existence of the necessary infrastructure at the industrial park is one of the important points in favour of the project. In fact, the new biorefinery would be erected next to Dakota Spirit AgEnergy's ethanol plant. Another important point to consider is the expected generation of revenue back to farmers. Currently, the company is having conversations with them to determine what a fair price may be and what would be profitable for both parties.

Figure 1. Inbicon Biomass Refinery Demonstration at Kalundborg (extracted from Leifmark web page)

Through Leifmark, a partner company, New Energy Investors has access to the Inbicon Biomass Refinery technology, a high efficiency process that turns biomass into ethanol and high-purity lignin. At a cost of $200 million over 15 years, DONG Energy fully developed the Inbicon technology and built the first Inbicon Biomass Refinery at Kalundborg (Denmark) where the process has been demonstrated. Therefore, the technology is already developed and now it is about optimizing the plant design for the Jamestown location.

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