Read the full story in Biomass Magazine.
A shuttered ethanol production research facility is preparing to restart with a new focus of operation. Central Lakes College Ag Center director Bob Schafer said the 100,000-gallon capacity plant in Staples, Minn., began operating in 1980 as a corn ethanol production research facility and was one of the first stationary production facilities in Minnesota. But in 1983 the facility was abandoned by researchers because of operational difficulties with some of the equipment at the facility and poor ethanol economics. Ready-to-use biomass pellets were left in the biomass boiler, documents were left out on desks and pieces of operational equipment were simply shut off and left to rust. “It was just like somebody walked away from the dinner table,” Schafer said.
