PEIX-"We are approaching 100-percent ownership,” madera plant restart target: may 1, Koehler said
Madera ethanol plant restart target May 1 Published on 03/13/2014 - 9:01 am Written by John Lindt http://t.co/6p9naknVx3 Pacific Ethanol hopes to restart the shuttered Madera ethanol plant by May 1, said spokesman Paul Koehler.
The plant that has been idle for five years will be run “far more efficiently," Koehler said.
"We’ve learned a lot over those five years on how to operate an ethanol plant," he said. The facility will employ 35 and Koehler said most of the staff has been hired.
Pacific Ethanol will install corn oil extraction technology at the plant later in the year as it has at other company facilities.
Koehler said the company wants to source a percentage of feedstock, perhaps 15 percent of the corn and grain sorghum grown nearby, as it is doing near Stockton.
Asked if margins are as healthy as they were last fall when the company reported a nice profit, Koehler said they are, noting high demand for exports of distillers grain is helping to improve profits at all ethanol plants.
The other good news for the company: "We are approaching 100-percent ownership,” Koehler said, adding that “Madera was our first plant, so the restart is something special for us.”
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