Wall Lake plant begins making biodiesel

A $40 million plant in Wall Lake, Iowa, has started producing biodiesel.

 

Western Iowa Energy made its first batch of the soybean-based fuel additive last week, the company announced on its Web site -- www.westerniowaenergy.com.

 

The plant sent samples to an outside lab for independent certification, according to the Web site. By this weekend, WIE officials hope to have all the certification and paperwork completed so they can begin shipping biodiesel.

At full capacity, the WIE plant will produce 30 million gallons annually of biodiesel. In addition to soy and other natural oils, the facility can process biodiesel from animal fats.

 

The investor-owned facility created 30 new jobs in Wall Lake, a Sac County city of about 800. More than half of the 630 investors hail from Sac and two neighboring counties -- Carroll and Crawford.

 

The Wall Lake plant, on the south end of town near the airport, becomes the state's fourth biodiesel producer. The other three -- AGP at Port Neal near Sergeant Bluff, Soy Solutions in Milford and West Central Co-op in Ralston -- also are in western Iowa.

 

Additional area plants are also planned for Akron, Marcus and Storm Lake, Iowa. The most recent is the $70 million Raccoon River Valley plant planned near the Gateway Lighthouse along U.S. Highway 71.

 

Iowa's growing biodiesel and ethanol industries got a major boost in a series of bills signed Tuesday by Gov. Tom Vilsack. The legislation included a 3 cent tax break for every gallon of biodiesel sold and a 25-cent-per-gallon break for E85, a blend of 85 percent corn-based ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Another new initiative requires that 25 percent of all fuel burned in the state be renewable by 2020.