DuPont-Danisco gets $9 million Iowa grant to break ground

A proposed cellulosic ethanol project by DuPont-Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC is making headway in Iowa as the joint company was awarded a $9 million grant by the Iowa Power Fund Board to break ground on its 25 MMgy refinery for conversion of corn stover to ethanol.

While a specific site has not yet been selected yet, the plant will likely break ground in the county of either Webster or Story, with a final decision on a site coming by late spring or early summer, according to Don Tormey, public information and communications director for the Iowa Office of Energy Independence.

Tormey said the contract for the grant money was approved at the IPFB’s latest meeting on Feb. 9. With the $9 million grant from the IPFB, DDCE will add more than $226 million to bring the total project cost to more than $235 million. The grant is expected to result in the creation of at least 60 full-time jobs by the project completion date, which is slated for March 2014.

“It’s a pretty big project,” Tormey said. “There are criteria, dates and benchmarks in the contract that have to be met for each phase, but I see no indication that they won’t be able to meet those. They look to be on track and on time to progress forward. We haven’t heard otherwise.”

When it breaks ground, DDCE’s cellulosic ethanol plant would join the ranks of other cellulosic projects already in their construction phase. Poet LLC received more than $14 million from the Iowa Power Fund for its Project Liberty—bolt-on cellulosic ethanol technology used to convert corn stover to cellulosic ethanol. The company is installing the technology at its 55 MMgy corn ethanol plant in Emmetsburg and expects to produce 25 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol by the start of 2012.

Fiberight LLC received $2.9 million from the Iowa Power Fund for its MSW-to-ethanol project in Blairstown. The 6 MMgy plant, totaling $7 million, is anticipated to come online later this year.