Renewable Energy Group broke ground on its new Emporia biodiesel plant in a ceremony Tuesday.
Actual construction work will begin in about two weeks, according to REG Chief Executive Officer Jeff Stroburg. The company expects to have the $70 million plant up and running by September or October of 2008. Once completed, it will be capable of making 60 million gallons of biodiesel fuel a year, using soybean oil supplied by Bunge.
“You can name just about any state in the union and biodiesel from this plant will probably find its way there eventually,” Stroburg told an audience of around 60 people at the ceremony.
The plant will employ about 30 people with an estimated payroll of $1.3 million.
Announcements like this are becoming a habit for both REG and Emporia. Last week, the company announced it was starting construction on a 60-million gallon biodiesel plant near New Orleans. About the same time, Emporia announced it had recruited Hill’s Pet Nutrition to town, with a plant to be built not far from REG.
City Commissioner Bobbie Agler said the recent successes had taken a lot of work from the community and particularly the Regional Development Association of East Central Kansas, the city’s industrial recruiter.
“You get bites and you can’t land the fish, and then all of a sudden, bang-bang!” Agler said.
The REG plant will be built east of Norfolk Iron & Metal, in southeastern Emporia. Stroburg said the site was ideal, both because of its central location in the Midwest and because of its proximity to the Bunge plant. A pipeline will connect the two plants to provide the soy oil.
“REG has been a market leader in biodiesel,” said Larry Clark, executive vice president of Bunge North America. “We’re going to leverage their experience and our expertise to hopefully improve both companies together and ... the community.”
“The community of Emporia continues to be strong supporters of us and we appreciate it,” he added.
Mayor Julie Johnson said the plant would help Americans take the first small steps toward energy independence, using domestic crops for fuel instead of foreign oil.
REG officials have said there should be no noticeable noise or smell from the plant. What is noticeable, Stroburg said, is the reduction in vehicle emissions by vehicles that use the fuel.
“If you get behind a city bus burning a 20 percent mix of biodiesel ... it doesn’t burn your eyes and it smells a lot like french fries,” he told the audience at the site, getting a chuckle.