Al-Corn Clean Fuels Celebrates 20 Years of Production

Friday morning I drove over to Claremont to host KDHL's AM Minnesota program. Al-Corn Clean Fuels is celebrating their 20th anniversary. I remember well when Al-Corn was coming on line because I had just started working at KDHL. Corn prices had been low for quite a while and farmers were going together building ethanol plants as a way to add value to their corn. I remember too that just as Al-Corn was coming on line corn prices rallied to over $5 a bushel.

There have been many changes since the Al-Corn ethanol plant was built. It was designed to produce 10 million gallons of ethanol a year. Through increases in efficiency and minor expansions, Al-Corn produces about 50 million gallons of ethanol per year. As soon as permits are obtained, construction will begin on expanding capacity to 120 million gallons a year. In addition to ethanol, Al-Corn produces co-products including distillers grains for livestock feed, carbon dioxide for the pop industry and corn oil used for biodiesel.