Ethanol plant looking into using wastewater

Corn Plus General Manager Keith Kor tells AgWeek today that his ethanol plant in Winnebago, MN is considering using the city’s wastewater in their production process.

So Corn Plus General Manager Keith Kor talked to Winnebago officials about exploring the possibility of diverting the city’s wastewater from the river to the ethanol plant.

“They really liked the idea, so I made a few phone calls,” Kor said.The calls included state lawmakers who represent Winnebago — Sen. Julie Rosen and Rep. Bob Gunther, both Fairmont Republicans who are sponsoring state legislation to finance the cost of a pipe running from the wastewater facility to the ethanol plant.

While ethanol production is becoming more efficient as technology improves, environmental groups are still critical of the amount of water some ethanol plants consume.

Already, Corn Plus has reduced its ratio to three gallons of water for each gallon of ethanol produced.

“We’d like to get that at least down to two or even a one-to-one ratio,” he said.

When looking at ground-water usage, the ratio could potentially drop close to zero if Corn Plus is able to rely almost exclusively on wastewater from the toilets, bathtubs and sink drains of Winnebago.

There’s more analysis to do about the quality of the water coming from the Winnebago treatment plant and how much additional treatment might be required, but Kor is optimistic.“

Our water engineer took some samples, and preliminary indications look like it will work,” he said.

The United States has become much more environmentally conscious in the past several years, and the reuse of water that would otherwise be drained back into the river is a win-win situation for everyone. This is a great idea!

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