Plover Ethanol Prepares to Fire Up Wisconsin's First Ethanol Plant

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The following is an advisory by industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Plover Ethanol (Plover, WI), a privately held company, is putting the finishing touches on a new ethanol plant in Wisconsin and has intentions of producing ethanol this month.

The five million gallon per year ethanol plant began construction back in August of 2001 and after a heat exchanger is put into service, Plover plans to begin producing ethanol from a variety of feedstocks. The plant was originally designed to process two million bushels per year of corn seed into the synthetic fuel but it will also have the capability of utilizing cheese whey and potato waste feedstocks to produce alcohol.

Situated in a region heavily populated by dairy and cheese plants, Plover intends to capitalize on its location by accepting cheese whey, a by-product of cheese processing, and producing an additional two to three million gallons per year of alcohol utilizing waste heat from the main plant. Additional equipment such as an expanded distillation system will be added to accommodate the additional throughput.

They will have the competitive advantage of using low-cost industry byproducts instead of higher-price corn as feedstocks. When the plant begins commercial operation, area cheese-makers will have a constructive alternative to disposing of their whey on farm fields, an environmentally questionable practice.

The plant is situated in central Wisconsin, roughly 80 miles west of Green Bay in the small town of Plover in Portage County. The 100 foot tall elevator structure can be seen on the Wisconsin horizon from miles away. The facility will also be the first ethanol plant in operation in the state since the mid 1980's.