Ethanol Plant Returns To Production

An ethanol plant in Buffalo Lake, MN, has partly reopened after a long journey through bankruptcy court, closures, and new owners.

With fresh capital and new equipment acquired by the latest owner — West Ventures LLC — Buffalo Lake Advanced Biofuels reopened several divisions of its ethanol plant in early-September with roughly 35 workers. Once fully operational, the plant is expected to produce eighteen million gallons of ethanol a year.

The plant’s reopening is the latest incarnation for an ethanol refinery that has faced multiple woes. Built in 1997, it soon doubled its production to 18 million gallons a year but still struggled to maintain a profit and closed in 2009.

It opened briefly in 2012 as Purified Renewable Energy with new management and investment by West Ventures. But Purified filed for bankruptcy in March 2013. West Ventures, then a creditor, bought the plant out of bankruptcy court a year ago. It since has repaired equipment, gotten sections of the plant back online and even installed some new technologies.

The trade journal Ethanol Producer magazine reported that West Ventures recently installed new solids-separation technology at Buffalo Lake that processes corn into fuel with less need for large evaporators or centrifuges.

Buffalo Lake, about 100 miles west of the Twin Cities, is not alone in beefing up its biofuel capabilities. Minnesota has 21 ethanol plants. Of those, plants in Luverne, Lamberton, and Little Falls have made or are considering upgrades and retrofits to produce an alternative alcohol called biobutanol, said Tim Rudnicki, Executive Director of the Minnesota Bio-Fuels Association.

The investments are happening as many ethanol makers report profitable refining margins — a turnaround after high corn prices in 2012 forced the closure of twenty ethanol factories nationwide.

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