CLYMERS — After more than a year of construction and a few minor setbacks, the ethanol plant at The Andersons in Clymers will soon open.

The Andersons Clymers Ethanol LLC announced plans to begin operation as early as this week.

The $187 million project began construction in February 2006. A groundbreaking ceremony attended by Gov. Mitch Daniels was held last April.

According to Neill McKinstray, vice president and general manager of the ethanol division with The Andersons, the plant was scheduled to be up and running earlier this year, but unfavorable weather conditions last fall and in February resulted in lost construction days. He said the delays pushed contractors behind about three weeks.

The ethanol site also experienced a setback when a fire broke out inside a tower in December. Damage was estimated at $500,000.



Bringing new jobs



The opening of the Clymers plant will bring approximately 42 to 45 new jobs to the area, according to McKinstray. Those positions include both salary and hourly employees. The average hourly wage will be in the $19-an-hour range, with benefits, he said. Another 13 employees from The Andersons’ Delphi facility will be moved to the Clymers location.

The plant, dubbed the largest of its kind east of the Mississippi River, will produce 110 million gallons of ethanol — a gasoline additive derived from corn — each year, as well as 350,000 tons of distillers dried grains, an animal feed ingredient. McKinstray expects the plant to be operating at capacity by the first of June.

Much of the corn that will be used in the dry milling process is expected to come from local farmers. Approximately 40 million bushels of corn will be purchased annually, said McKinstray, adding that for each bushel of corn, approximately 2.7 gallons of ethanol will be produced. He said the renewable fuel will be blended with gasoline and used by Hoosiers and consumers from out-of-state.

“The demand for ethanol is expected to increase from less than 2 billion gallons in 2002 to over 7 billion gallons by 2012,” said The Andersons President and CEO Mike Anderson in an earlier news release.

As the demand for ethanol increases nationwide, so will the demand for corn to produce it.



Impact on grain prices



That in turn will likely have an impact on grain prices, according to McKinstray, who says farmers are already enjoying a higher price. Over the last two years, the national average for corn prices has doubled to more than $4 a bushel, he said.

Higher prices for grain have caused a number of American corn farmers to respond to the growing demand. In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s annual report revealed farmers’ crop planting intentions to increase corn acres to more than 90.5 million — a jump of 15 percent over last year. That could mean a corn crop in excess of 13 billion bushels, according to the USDA.

While higher grain prices is just one benefit that has been seen by local farmers, Skip Kuker, president of the Logansport-Cass County Economic Development Foundation, said the new plant will have an impact on the entire community.

“New monies will be coming into the community,” with new jobs and the utilization of local services, he said.

In addition to natural gas and other commodity products, McKinstray said the plant will be utilizing services from local millwrights and electricians as well as other service industries for such things as vehicle maintenance and repair.

“Our annual budget of the facility will be upwards of $150 million and more,” said McKinstray, adding that much of that amount will find its way to the Logansport area.



Success story



The Clymers ethanol plant “is a real success story for Logansport,” said McKinstray.

The attributes of the Clymers site, with its available supply of corn, rail infrastructure, acreage and access to utilities, is what led The Andersons to choose Cass County over locations in Illinois and Ohio for the new ethanol plant.

McKinstray credited the success of the project to the tremendous support from the State of Indiana, the local government, economic development foundation, businesses and community members.

The Andersons has an ethanol plant in operation in Albion, Mich., and is in the process of constructing a third plant in Greenville, Ohio. The Ohio plant, which could be operational as soon as the first quarter of 2008, will have the annual capacity to produce 110 million gallons of ethanol and 350,000 tons of distillers dried grain (DDG), an animal feed ingredient.

According to the Renewable Fuels Association, there are currently 114 ethanol biorefineries nationwide with a capacity to produce more than 5.6 billion gallons annually. Another 80 biorefineries are under construction and seven are expanding that will add more than 6 billion gallons of capacity when complete.