by Ben Nuelle LISTEN: money-matters-10-12-16
A northern Iowa ethanol plant celebrates producing one billion gallons.
Absolute Energy in St. Ansgar, Iowa produced their one billionth gallon of ethanol this month. Rick Schwark is President and CEO of Absolute Energy.
?We?re thrilled with this achievement. Absolute has always been committed to being a good neighbor in our community and creating a positive environment for employees. We couldn?t have reached this milestone without the support and commitment of our community investors and workers.?
Just over a thousand people live in St. Ansgar. Schwark says commitment from the surrounding community is extremely important.
?We?re owned by a little over 470 members and 90% of them live around 50 miles from the facility. We?ve ground more than 313 million bushels of corn and produced more than 2.6 million tons of distiller?s grains and 123 million pounds of corn oil since its inception.?
Iowa is the nation?s leader in renewable fuels production. Iowa has 43 ethanol refineries capable of producing 4 billion gallons annually. including nearly 55 million gallons of annual cellulosic ethanol production capacity. In addition, Iowa has 12 biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce more than 315 million gallons annually.
