Status of Production in Kansas
We believe we have a well planned and growing biofuels industry that will benefit rural areas in particular. At the end of 2006, we were at a production capability of 210 million gallons from eight working plants.
We're working to ensure wise water use and compliance with the Water Appropriation Act as new renewable fuel production and other businesses look to locate in Kansas. In areas closed to new appropriation of water, potential production businesses must purchase existing water rights and comply with rules designed to decrease consumption of water when changes of use occur. The average Kansas plant uses about 3.34 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol.
In 2006, ground was broken for a large, 55 million gallon ethanol production facility in Garden City and a 110 million gallon plant near Liberal in the spring and summer. Other plants are in the planning stages, and we expect some 585 million gallons of potential new production to take us to production of some 800 million gallons per year.
In addition, plants were in the planning stages for Ford County, Pratt, Concordia,
Rice County, and Goodland. At Colwich, Abengoa has announced a new plant near their existing plant with an output of between 80 and 100 million gallons. Abengoa also is considering the construction of a cellulosic ethanol plant in Kansas.
Renewable fuels help us drive our cars and trucks and they drive rural economies. Remarkable synergies are made possible through renewable fuel use and production, benefiting rural communities and farmers in many counties surrounding production plants.
A study in Nebraska found that a relatively small ethanol plant gives a one-time boost of $71 million during construction. Then, in operation, it expands the local economic base by more than $70 million each year through direct spending of $58 million. It creates 33 good new jobs at the plant and about 120 other jobs in the local community.
There is still room for growth of ethanol from traditional sources of corn and grain sorghum, the feedstock for more than half of Kansas' ethanol production. That also is important in terms of sustaining our important water resources. Another byproduct of ethanol production, distillers' grains, can be fed to cattle and other livestock.
Even with growth of biofuel production from grain, there's room for new renewable fuels from cellulosic sources. Research on production from these sources, such as switchgrass, wood chips, corn stover or other plant sources, is ongoing. Experts believe the technology to make widespread production of cellulosic based fuels is just around the corner.
Many groups are working on expansion of the E85 infrastructure and the production of flexible fueled vehicles. Our newest E85 station in Salina means that soon it will be possible to fill up with E85 from one end of Kansas to the other.