BioFuels Journal

East Coast Ethanol Announces Locations for Four 110-MMGY Ethanol Plants Planned to Meet Ethanol Demand in Southeast

—East Coast Ethanol, LLC (ECE), which plans to build four corn-based fuel ethanol plants, announced October 14 that it will construct plants in Northampton Co., NC; Chester Co., SC; Wayne Co., GA; and Jackson Co., FL.

The firm said that its $871 million investment would make it the foremost supplier of ethanol to the Southeast U.S. market.

With a nameplate production capacity of 440 million gallons of ethanol per year, ECE will become the sixth largest ethanol producer in the U.S.

According to the latest figures released by the Energy Information Administration, the Southeast ethanol market demand is estimated at 2.1 billion gallons per year of an E-10 ethanol blend (10% ethanol and 90% gasoline).

When the four plants are operating, ECE will become the leading producer of ethanol and its co-products on the East Coast.

In addition to producing 110 million gallons of ethanol, each of the four plants will also produce 353,000 tons of distillers dried grains, a high-protein, high-energy animal feed supplement, which will be marketed to the dairy, beef, swine, and poultry industry.

In the future, carbon dioxide (CO2) produced in the manufacture of ethanol will become another source of revenue from the plant.

CO2 is used in both liquid and solid forms as refrigerants and in the food industry.

NC: The $212 million plant will be located on 414 acres of land in Northampton County, just west of Seaboard, NC.

SC: The $230 million plant will be located on 319 acres of land in Chester County, just southwest of Chester, SC on Beltline Rd.

GA: The $216 million plant will be located on 350 acres of land in Wayne County, just southeast of Jesup, GA.

FL: The $212 million plant will be located on 296 acres of land in Jackson County, just southwest of Campbellton, FL

Construction of the plants is to begin in the spring of 2009.

It is expected that the plant construction will take 18 to 22 months, therefore, the plant is projected to begin operations in 2010.

Each of the plants will initially have a workforce of more than 40 employees.

The U.S.-based firm will generate more than $400 million annually to the local economies where the four plants are located.

ECE will need approximately 40 million bushels of corn to produce 110 million gallons of ethanol at each plant per year.

To meet their production requirements, ECE will buy corn grown in the Southeast, but will have to ship in the majority of its corn from the Eastern corn belt.

While the use of cellulosic feed stocks in the manufacture of ethanol is being tested, the technology is not presently available on a commercially scalable basis.

ECE intends to enter the cellulosic ethanol business once that technology becomes economically viable.

For more information, call 877-323-3835.