Biodiesel on tap
Wisconsin Agriculturist

If all goes as planned, groundbreaking for the state’s first soy biodiesel plant could happen in Evansville sometime this fall.

“Everything is moving quickly,” says Jeff Pieterick, vice president of North Prairie Productions, based in Waterloo.

North Prairie Productions LLC is in negotiations with Landmark Services Cooperative of Evansville. Landmark would be an investor in the facility. The co-op would also sellland for the new plant near its facilities in Evansville, where it has 1.9 million bushels of grain storage and 2 million gallons of liquid storage.

The soy biodiesel plant would not process raw soybeans, but would convert soybean oil into biodiesel fuel, Pieterick explains.

The facility would produce up to 45 million gallons of biodiesel fuel per year and would create about 25 jobs, according to Pieterick.

The site where North Prairie is planning to locate the plant has access to rail, highways and utilities.

“When we start, we will have to get all of our oil from the markets, and it will come in by rail,” Pieterick says.

Eventually, North Prairie would like a soybean crush plant built next to the soy biodiesel plant. According to Pieterick, North Prairie would like somebody else to own the crush facility, but he says, “We are retaining earnings going forward. In this way, if we have to build the crush facility, and it’s feasible, then we will be the catalyst to get that going. Ultimately, we believe someone will step up to the plate within the next few years. Hopefully, they will locate the crush facility next to the soy biodiesel plant.”

A study looking at the feasibility of building a soy biodiesel plant in Wisconsin is expected to be completed by the end of July.