Cellulosic ethanol plant slated for Black Hills

[jpak]

http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2009/04/06/news/local/doc49d67cb86c32b864834510.txt

A Rapid City energy company is scouting the area, looking for a home for a planned multimillion-dollar ethanol plant that will employ dozens and convert forest waste into ethanol and other types of energy.

“We think our technology is ready for market now, so we’re looking at our first commercial facility,” said Dave Litzen, vice president of KL Energy Corp., formerly KL Process Design Group. “We see the best place to put that plant is on our backyard.”

Steve Corcoran, the firm’s newly appointed chief executive, said the company plans to start design work by the end of this year, and finish building the $25 million to $50 million facility by late 2010. Depending on the plant’s configuration, it will employ 25 to 40 people, and produce up to 5 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol a year, he said.

Litzen and Corcoran say they’re scouting several places in the Black Hills, and working to arrange the sources for the “feedstock,” forest waste that will feed the plant. Although the company may build the plant for a client, it also could own and operate the plant itself, Corcoran said.

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