On August 21, I attended the Grand Opening celebration for what is being touted as the largest biodiesel plant in the world. The plant is located in Claypool, Indiana and will be owned and operated by Louis-Dreyfus Commodities. Claypool, Indiana is located in northeast Indiana and approximately 80 miles from the Ohio-Indiana state line. Why would an Ohio boy travel over 100 miles to Indiana for such an event? Basically, I wanted to see what the ‘future’ of biodiesel looks like. I believe I saw it with my trip to Claypool.
Here are the vitals for the Louis-Dreyfus Commodities biodiesel facility in Claypool:
- the facility is the largest integrated soybean-based biodiesel plant in the world. Soybeans will be crushed into meal, and the extracted oil will be converted to biodiesel — all onsite.
- the plant can crush 50 million bushels of soybeans annually, more than 17 percent of all the soybeans grown in Indiana
- over 88 million gallons of soy-based biodiesel will be produced
- it will produce over one million tons of soybean meal, and over 80 million pounds of glycerin
- the plant itself will cost in the neighborhood of $150 million dollars to build when completed
- 70+ full time jobs will be created to run the plant 24 hours a day, seven days a week; however, the real economic impact isn’t in the jobs created but in the multiplier effect on the regional economy.
Three years ago, the largest biodiesel plant in the United States was making 10 or 11 million gallons a year, that was the big one. The small ones were making 500-thousand gallons a year. This one in Claypool will generate 88-million gallons a year.
With construction of this facility, Louis-Dreyfus Commodities has made a big statement about the future of agriculture and have clearly committed themselves to biodiesel. This facility is designed to do three things: take in soybeans, turn soybeans into soymeal, and turn extracted soyoil into biodiesel. This is not a long-term storage facility nor does it appear that whole soybeans be loaded from this facility for processing elsewhere.
There is much discussion in farm magazines and on-line agriculture chat-rooms about the possibility of using other feedstock oils for biodiesel (for example, jatropha, canola, camelina, etc.). Seeing this Louis-Dreyfus biodiesel facility gives me pause wonder about these alternative crops and their ability to supplant soyoil as the lead feedstock in biodiesel. At least in the Midwest the infrastructure is so clearly geared towards soybeans and soyoil I wonder how quickly (if at all) another crop would have any impact. Case in point, this Louis-Dreyfus facility is built for soybeans; crushing/processing of other crops is likely not going to happen at such a facility.
Stand-alone biodiesel manufacturers could be in for some challenges. By a stand-alone manufacturer, I am referring to facilities that only take in a feedstock oil and make it into biodiesel — no crushing, no meal, etc. This Louis-Dreyfus facility is completely integrated. Stand-alone, non-integrated biodiesel facilities will have their work cut out to compete with a totally integrated facility. I think this likely sets the tone for what we will see with regards to biodiesel in the future.
Oh, and by the way, I was only one of about 6,000+ people that attended this Grand Opening. I was told by event planners that they were expecting no more than 1500 people – you better believe there is huge interest in biofuels. For more information on the Louis-Dreyfus biodiesel plant, please visit their website at http://ldclaypool.com/