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Benton ethanol plant clears hurdles

By Codell Rodriguez, The Southern

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 10:11 PM CST

BENTON - The only thing standing between Ag Energy Resources Inc. and having a small ethanol plant is a whole lot of construction.

Mike Kearney, president and co-owner of Ag Energy Resources Inc., said the company, which according according to the Illinois Secretary of State's Web site formed on Nov. 14, 2005, has cleared all the hurdles with financing and environmental safety and is expected to be completed in April of 2008.

The company plans to build a plant producing five to seven million gallons of ethanol a year across from Benton Municipal Airport.

To get the plant ready to go, the company had to find the right financing and square everything away with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. As far as financing, all of their backing comes from loans from People's National Bank in Benton and a $4.6 million Business and Industry guaranteed loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Before building the plant, the company had to apply for a permit from the Illinois EPA obligating them to control air emissions.

"The air permit is the most important permit as far as environmental compliance," said Maggie Carson, spokesperson for the Illinois EPA.

Kearney called the acquisition of the permit "quite a process," having submitted an application in February and being approved in November. He said the company turned to a company called Bio-Process Innovations to work with the emissions to make sure they keep to code with the EPA.

Kearney co-owns Ag Energy Resources Inc. with his wife, Roberta Tabor-Kearney. He said that while most of his ethanol background has been through agriculture, the company has experienced engineers from Washington University and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. One of the engineers from Washington University, Dia Henriques, came all the way from South America and is working on her doctorate at the university.

To get the right equipment, the company purchased machinery from Olympia Brewing Co. in Seattle, Wash. Kearney said the process for making the ethanol is essentially the same as making alcohol. The corn goes through a distillation process that produces the ethanol and a feed byproduct, which Kearney said is something else the company could market in the future.

All of the corn will come from Franklin County and all the products from it will stay in Franklin County. Kearney said he feels loyal to the county and wants to make sure it rakes in all the benefits.

"I lived in Franklin County all my life," Kearney said. "That's why I brought the plant here."

codell.rodriguez@thesouthern.com

351-5804

Ethanol plants in Illinois

There are more than 40 plants in Illinois with air permits granted by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Plants in Southern Illinois with permits include NABR in Carbondale and Midwest Agri-Energy LLC in Salem. Plants in Central Illinois include American Ethanol Inc. in Danville and The Andersons Champaign Ethanol in Champaign. Northern Illinois plants include Winnebago Ethanol Plant in Rockford and Kankakee Renewable Energy LLC in Kankakee.