Alto Ingredients Inc (ALTO)

[Jessi03]

Low-carbon ethanol producer and marketer Pacific Ethanol Inc. is set to install a high-tech system to separate out corn oil at its Magic Valley plant in Idaho, the company announced Thursday.
Pacific Ethanol (NASDAQ: PEIX), Sacramento’s third-largest public company, has awarded ICM Inc. of Colwich, Kan., a contract to install its patented oil separation system. The system is expected to be installed at the plant by the end of this year and Pacific Ethanol anticipates that it will begin generating revenue from corn oil in first-quarter 2013.
Neil Koehler, the company’s president and CEO, said the move is consistent with the company’s efforts to further diversify its revenue streams and improve plant performance.
“We expect to soon award future contracts for the three other Pacific Ethanol plants,” Koehler said. “Corn oil is a high value product for the Pacific Ethanol plants. The Magic Valley plant is expected to produce approximately 12 million pounds of corn oil per year, which at current prices would contribute as much as $4.5 million, or 7 cents per gallon, of operating income annually.”
Pacific Ethanol intends to implement corn oil separation at its other plants by the end of first-quarter 2013.