Biodiesel plant in testing stage

It started as an interest back during the 1960s of renewable fuels, continued in 2006 with an investment opportunity open only to Iowans, and now Mike Bohannan’s dream has become a reality.

After over a year in the works, and investments from many Iowans, the Iowa Renewable Energy (IRE) LLC biodiesel plant in Washington began production recently making it the fifth 30-million-gallon-per-year facility in Iowa.

“Officially, we are still in testing and startup mode,” Bohannan, President of IRE said. “We are making some product and we are expecting to turn it loose in the not-so-distant future.”

He says so far the tests show the plant is producing a high grade of biodiesel. He expects the first official shipment of biodiesel to leave the plant sometime within the next week.

Bohannan enjoys giving tours of the maze of piping and machinery inside the plant. It boasts 14 miles of piping and the ability to take soy oil or any kind of animal fat or vegetable oil and process it into usable diesel fuel at the rate of 30 million gallons per year. Bohannan has called it “a biodiesel plant in southeast Iowa for southeastern Iowans.” It employs about 28 people, most of whom Bohannan says were hired locally, with the exception of the management staff.

Washington Evening Journal