KansasCity.com
Posted on Mon, Jan. 11, 2010 10:15 PM
By STEVE EVERLY
The Kansas City Star

The year is shaping up as pivotal for the ethanol industry, and a Kansas company has a major role in how things will turn out.

ICM Inc., based in Colwich, Kan., has been involved in designing and building more ethanol plants in North America than any other company. But those plants, including several in the region built over the last decade, have relied on turning corn into fuel.

The industry’s future growth will depend on turning cellulose from a solid material — such as prairie grasses, wood and corn stalks — into liquid ethanol. Missouri and Kansas could be big sources of cellulose, with farmers growing switchgrass.

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