Prairie Horizon began accepting grain Aug. 5, according to CEO and General Manager Mike Erhart. The facility will produce 40 MMgy of ethanol from 15 million bushels of corn and milo annually. The project will likely rely mainly on sorghum for feedstock. Much of the plant’s corn is expected to come from Nebraska.
The plant is located northeast of Phillipsburg, Kan., which is in north-central Kansas 17 miles from the Nebraska state line. “It’s good for the community,” said Monte Abell, Prairie Horizon’s president of the board of directors. “We’re excited to have begun production.”
It was a homecoming of sorts for the plant’s designer and builder. Colwich, Kan.-based ICM Inc. constructed and designed the plant, which is the state’s eighth operation fuel ethanol facility. Its size puts it in a tie for first for the largest producer in Kansas, a spot it will hold until the completion of two 55 MMgy plants in Garden City and Pratt. Kansas will have 343 MMgy of production capacity once three facilities finish construction.
Article Continues After Advertisement
United Bio Energy will market the plant’s approximately 125,000 tons of distillers dried grains. Ethanol Products will market the ethanol.
Bankers Bank of Wichita, Kan., is providing the permanent financing for the $56 million project. Abell said the 300-member investment group has a wide background, but most are farmers. The equity drive began in July 2004 following initial meetings in late 2003. Abell said the push for the project came through the Phillips County Economic Development group, of which Abell was president. “I’ve been with it from the beginning,” he said.
Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy LLC
Location: Phillipsburg, Kansas
Design/builder: ICM Inc.
Process technology: ICM Inc.
Capacity: 40 MMgy
Feedstock: milo/corn
Ethanol marketer: Ethanol Products
Distillers grains marketer: United Bio Energy
Broke ground: September 2005
Start-up date: August 2006
Posted: 11:42 a.m. CDT Tuesday, September 12, 2006
