Iowa group to build 12 biodiesel plants

A Ralston company and its new partners plan to build 12 biodiesel plants in Iowa and other states by 2009, company officials announced Monday.

The new plants, including five in Iowa, and three existing plants will employ about 450 people. The company will be able to produce 640 million gallons of biodiesel annually by 2009, more than four times expected 2006 U.S. capacity, they said. Each plant will 30 or 60 million gallons of biodiesel annually.