Industrial Info Forecasts Top 25 Ethanol Projects Expected to Move Forward to Construction

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Reported by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). According to statistical data extracted from Industrial Info’s Ethanol Production Database, which features more than 230 active ethanol projects, 25 new North American projects have a good chance of beginning construction within the next six to nine months. Before projects can move forward, a plant owner must have money, including the first years of operating costs in-house, local support from the community in which it will reside, permits from both state and local agencies, a supply of feedstock aligned, a technology provider, and plant builder lined up with an abundance of subcontractors.

Click on the image at right to view a listing of companies forecast to begin construction in the next 9-months.

Construction costs to build the next 25 plants exceeds $1.9 billion in capital dollars and the combined annual capacities of these plants will be well over 1.3 billion gallons of fuel ethanol. Projects can be found as far west as Hawaii, down south to Texas and Mississippi, northward to the Canadian providences of Ontario and Saskatchewan, and as far east as the Atlantic coast state of North Carolina.

Jay Brunson, Industrial Info’s Synthetic Fuels Market Vice President adds, “These ethanol plant owners represent the next group of players with intentions on building fuel ethanol plants in North America. All these projects listed have a great chance of moving forward, but I would expect a project or two to drop off the radar over the next 60 to 90 days.”

Nearly half of these projects have a technology provider on-board and are working towards the silver shovel ceremony. The others are scheduled to be “on the list” to complete engineering spec’s, final design drawings, and move closer to the field.

The first of these projects are scheduled to be complete and begin producing fuel ethanol as early as November of 2007, and some of the larger projects will be complete as far out as late March of 2009.

Plant capacities range from a mammoth 114 million-gallon per year plant and as small as 7 million gallons per year. The majority of the facilities will utilize corn feedstock, however, grains and bagasse cellulosic materials can also be found in the mix. A wide variety of plant builders are also listed for the construction of these sites including Fagen, Delta-T, Katzen, Merrick & Company and ForeRunner.

For details on the projects mentioned in this article contact Industrial Info's Member Center at 1-800-762-3361.

Industrial Info's Ethanol Production Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging synthetic fuels market. This database covers 123 ethanol plants currently in operation and 234 plants under development. It also covers fifteen operational biodiesel plants and 41 biodiesel plants under development.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 23 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.