Colombians in U.S. sugar mills to produce ethanol

[Judi Lynn]

Colombians in U.S. sugar mills to produce ethanol
A Colombian business group operating in Louisiana hopes to produce the first sugar cane-based ethanol in the United States.
Posted on Sun, Jun. 08, 2008
By GERARDO REYES
El Nuevo Herald

If everything goes as planned, by the middle of next year, Colombian industry will celebrate a landmark moment in southern Louisiana: production of the first gallon of ethanol made from sugar cane in the United States.

For the past two years, and in a very discrete manner, the Inverandino business group, controlled by the Santacoloma family of Colombia, has taken over the operations of three sugar mills in the area that will be exclusively dedicated to converting sugar cane into ethanol and organic fertilizers.

This will become the first-ever industrial production of ethanol in the United States that is made from sucrose. It will also be the first ethanol plant of any kind to function along the Gulf Coast. Ethanol produced in the United States is currently made from corn.

According to projections from Louisiana Green Fuels (LGF), the holding company that is advancing the project, within five years the plants will produce 100 million gallons of ethanol.

Hundreds of Colombian workers and technicians were brought to the United States with their families as part of the plan to build the plants, in a project that its officials say has no precedent.

More:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/562380.html