Coal-burning ethanol plant going up near Nevada

IOWA – A new ethanol plant being constructed just west of Nevada will be the second plant in the United States to be powered by coal.

Lincolnway Energy LLC’s $83 million project is nearly identical in design to the country’s first Clean Coal Technology ethanol plant, which is also in Iowa, according to Lars Dunn, Jr., plant manager for Nevada’s Lincolnway Energy. The plant in Goldfield recently began production.

“We have a great energy advantage, even over the 2005-built natural gas [powered ethanol] plants. We’ll only use one-third to one-fourth of the energy cost of natural gas, simply because of its high cost,” he said.

In producing 50 million gallons of ethanol per year, the plant will burn coal to create the steam needed to cook ground corn as well as dry the feed by-product.

Times-Republican (Iowa)