Osage Bio Energy Holds Groundbreaking Event for New Virginia Ethanol Plant

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Investor-owned ethanol start-up Osage Bio Energy LLC (Glen Allen, Virginia) held a silver-shovel groundbreaking on Friday, October 3, at the Appomattox Bio Energy facility in Hopewell, Virginia, and is now moving forward into the next stage of development on what will likely be Virginia's first fuel ethanol plant. The company secured financing for the project in May 2008, and after getting Hopewell City Council's approval and getting past local opposition for the project, things are moving ahead as planned.

Plans call for the creation of a 68.2 million-gallon-per-year fuel ethanol plant that will use over 28 million bushels of barley feedstock annually. It takes a slightly smaller amount of feedstock to produce a gallon of ethanol from barley compared with corn. Barley is also a winter crop that is considered an energy crop. It will be grown for the production of ethanol and does not compete for land used for food production.

The plant will also produce a feed additive, barley protein meal, liquefied carbon dioxide and barley hulls that can be used for fuel to run plant equipment or sold as a green fuel. The plant will utilize KATZEN International Incorporated's (Cincinnati, Ohio) licensed ethanol process technology and will be constructed by Agra Industries Incorporated (Merrill, Wisconsin).

Construction of the $161 million plant is expected to take 16 months to complete and is expected to be fully operational by February of 2010. The plant will be built on a 55-acre site at the end of Main Street in Hopewell, some 20 miles south of Richmond. When completed, the plant is expected to create 75 new jobs for the area.

Industrial Info's Ethanol Database provides a comprehensive outline of all current development activities in the emerging alternative fuels market. This database covers 156 ethanol plants in operation and 530 plants under development. It also covers 98 operational biodiesel plants and 245 biodiesel plants under development.

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