E3BioFuels

The E3 BioFuels firm out of Kansas is considering two construction sites for a plant in South Dakota, which has the ability to create as many as two-hundred new jobs.  The company combines livestock and ethanol production, using the biogas to run the ethanol plant and the ethanol byproduct is fed to the livestock:

A Kansas firm that combines livestock and ethanol to produce renewable energy is considering two sites in eastern South Dakota for a future plant, its CEO said Monday.

The company, E3 BioFuels, operates such a plant just west of Omaha, which is the first of its kind in the nation.

E3's Genesis plant uses waste from its 28,000-head cattle feedlot to produce biogas, which powers the ethanol plant.

In turn, a byproduct from the ethanol is fed to the livestock.

The plant produces about 25 million gallons of ethanol per year.

The South Dakota plant would produce about twice the amount of ethanol as Genesis, E3's CEO Dennis Langley said.

Both South Dakota sites under consideration are in the eastern half of the state, but Langley is not able to say exactly where because of confidentiality agreements.

"I'm certain some time in the near future, there will be a facility in South Dakota," Langley said. "We hope it would be one of our next ones."

The operation could mean 180 to 200 jobs, but that number could vary depending on whether the livestock component is a cattle feedlot such as the Genesis plant or a dairy operation, Langley said.