Corn protein plant on track for 2015

Big River Resources is teaming up with Prairie Gold to build a new facility that extracts corn protein.

The duo, who joined forces last year, will construct a new ethanol facility in Galva, Illinois, using technology to extract zein from corn.

The Illinois-based facility is expected to be completed in May, with production up and running in July.

With ethanol plants in West Burlington and Dyersville, Iowa, and Boyceville, Wisconsin, the Illinois zein facility is a demonstration facility where the company hopes to optimise the zein extraction technology and build the market.

In future, the firm is looking to 'build a facility eight times bigger', says Philip Shane, director of zein operations and marketing for Big River Prairie Gold.

At present, Big River Resources produces 110 million gallons per year of ethanol at the Galva facility, using 43 million bushels of corn and providing 320,000 tonnes of livestock feed each year.