Biodisel plant opens next week

Danville Commercial-News
Published: November 12, 2008 08:54 pm
BY ANNA HERKAMPCommercial-News

DANVILLE — A biodiesel plant begins operation in Danville next week.

Blackhawk Biofuels, LLC is located adjacent to Bunge Milling on Anderson Street. After a private ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday, the plant begins operation next Thursday. The plant eventually will be able to produce 45 million gallons of biofuel per year.

Earlier this year, Blackhawk took over the plant from Biofuels Company of America LLC.

The cost of soybeans, which had skyrocketed in recent years, had kept the facility’s construction from completion before the new investors took over, Vermilion Advantage President and CEO Vicki Haugen said in May.

Although soybean prices have fallen, the plant will help the local ag economy by allowing farmers to sell their soybeans at a good price in Danville, according to Vermilion County Farm Bureau spokesman Tom Fricke.

The plant’s biodiesel would be created from Bunge’s soybean oil and eventually, alternative feedstocks like animal fats.

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