Gevo will be the first company in the nation to make the product from a renewable source. Its main advantage over ethanol is that it can be sold for more uses.
At the noisy ethanol plant in Luverne, long stretches of pipes and stainless steel tanks are part of an industrial process that ferments corn into alcohol. After corn flour drops into a slurry tank, it is mixed with water and enzyme.
But in a year this plant will look different. Some new buildings will go up as the company switches over to produce isobutanol, which the company hopes to begin making in about a year.
"When we talk about Luverne, we talk about being a world class chemical plant," Gevo vice president Jack Huttner said.
The company will use a patented yeast to ferment corn sugars into isobutanol instead of ethanol.
While ethanol is used only as a gasoline additive, isobutanol is a more flexible material, Huttner said. He said Gevo will market it first to help make rubber, paints and other products. A few years down the road, he said, the company can also sell it as fuel. Read More... For the latest updates PRESS CTR + D or visit Stock Market news Today
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