COTTONWOOD FALLS — Chase County is getting closer to having a $2 to $3 million biodiesel plant move into the county.
Mike Swartz of the Chase County Economic Development Committee told the Gazette on Friday that the prospect of the plant coming to Chase County is looking good. The plant would be located east of Cottonwood Falls and the land for the plant would be annexed into the city, Swartz said. The plant would be located on just more than 6 acres.
“We, meaning the Economic Development Committee at Chase County, have done everything they (plant owners) have asked. The ball is in their court.” Swartz said. “The community here has been behind it. We haven’t had any derogatory comments at all.”
Swartz said that next week officials at the company are making some important moves toward opening a plant in Chase County. Swartz said it is too early to release the company’s name. The name will be released when the plans are a little farther along.
The proposed plant will render yellow fat, waste grease from restaurants.
Swartz said one of the concerns about the plant has been smell.
“It is taken to two other companies before it gets rendered,” Swartz said. “There will be no smell and no noise. Employees don’t even have to wear ear protection.”
Swartz paid a visit to a plant in Cartage, Mo., last week. The plant had made upgrades to minimize the odor.
“The smell has improved 80 percent or greater,” Swartz said.
A couple of members from the Chase County Economic Development Committee will visit a biodiesel plant that renders yellow fat, Swartz said.
Plants that process yellow fat are sparse around the United States. The Chase County Leader-News reported in its May 3 edition that the only yellow grease plant is in Anaheim, Calif.
There are recycled cooking oil plants at Big Oak Flat, Calif.; Ukiah, Calif.; Kahului, Hawaii; and Honolulu, Hawaii.
The plant would have a rendering capacity of between 5 million gallons a year and 10 million gallons a year. The 10,000 gallons capacity would come after a company expansion, Swartz said.
“That’s still up in the air,” he said. “It just depends on which way the company goes.”
The plant would start out with six employees and will be a 24-hour operation.
Comments
Post a comment
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. Our goal with this feature is to encourage thoughtful discussions about the news stories. Using the comment feature to make random attacks on people is not acceptable. Emporiagazette.com neither endorses nor guarantees the accuracy of any user contribution. Responsibility for what is posted or contributed to this site is the sole responsibility of each user. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
(Requires free registration.)