SEMO Milling/Ethanex Energy ethanol plant off the table

Southeast Missourian

A proposed ethanol plant that was to be a joint venture between local company SEMO Milling LLC and Kansas-based Ethanex Energy is no longer on the table, SEMO Milling President and CEO Bob Smallwood said Wednesday afternoon, the same day the milling facility excepted its first shipments of corn.

Smallwood didn't elaborate on the reasons for dropping the joint venture proposal, which was first reported in July. But Smallwood said the company has its own proprietary technology for "fractionating corn to provide a starch stream for the production of ethanol" -- meaning SEMO Milling can process the corn feedstock used in the creation of ethanol. Smallwood said the starch stream provides for a more efficient method of ethanol production that requires less energy to produce while minimizing by-products known as dried distiller grains, which are used in livestock feeds.

SEMO Milling has a pilot mill on-site to process corn for ethanol application in addition to its corn milling operation that produces food-grade corn products at a capacity of 620 tons per day.

Smallwood said the ethanol starch stream could be sold to plants at different sites, but SEMO Milling is already looking to bring an ethanol plant on-site. That plant could be another joint venture, or a venture by SEMO Milling itself.

Smallwood said finding 100 percent of the financing for a plant is something SEMO Milling is "pursuing vigorously."

Permitting, as well as some site preparation for a plant, is already under way, Smallwood said.