Great River, Inbicon to pair CHP, ethanol in N. Dakota?

Great River Energy CEO David Saggau told the Cleantech Group today his company is in talks with Danish cellulosic ethanol developer Inbicon to incorporate the biofuel technology at a power plant being built in North Dakota.

Inbicon seeks to pair its ethanol facilities with industrial processes or power plants that emit steam, which helps break down biomass before it is mixed with enzymes to produce ethanol. Inbicon opened its first demonstration facility in Denmark today (see Inbicon sells out of cellulosic ethanol before demo plant's opening).

Saggau said Maple Grove, Minn.-based Great River is interested in building an ethanol plant that could produce as much as 20 million gallons per year, using waste steam from the Spiritwood Station combined heat and power plant in North Dakota, which is expected to go into operation in October 2010.

"This is a very large breakthrough, and all the possibilities have not been envisioned yet," Saggau said today at Inbicon's plant opening.

Otaka Energy, the main equity partner for Spiritwood, is currently filing applications with the U.S. Department of Energy for grants and loan guarantees. The 99-MW capacity plant is expected to produce enough waste steam to feed two companies. The first is Cargill Malt, which is adjacent to Spiritwood Station.

Inbicon CEO Niels Henriksen confirmed his company is in talks to build a biomass-to-ethanol facility on adjacent land, or potentially to license the technology to Great River. Building such a plant would take at least three years, Henriksen said.

But Saggau said he also sees potential applications of the technology to upgrade first-generation corn-ethanol plants in the U.S., including one belonging to Great River.

"There's tremendous number of ethanol plants already, and this technology could potentially be a bonanza for those companies," Saggau said.

Great River owns 49 percent of Blue Flint Ethanol, a corn-ethanol producer with a 50 million gallon per year plant adjacent to a coal-fired power plant in North Dakota. The facility uses waste heat from the power plant to eliminate the need for a boiler, making the process more economical, Saggau said.

The plant is currently running above capacity at about 60 million gallons per year.

Great River specializes in co-locating industrial and power facilities in order to save energy. 

Cleantech developments making news in the past 24 hours

• Water innovation beyond desal: the new opportunities?
• Areva to launch solar business with Ausra takeover

View the last week of cleantech developments here | Subscribe to full feed