Corn becomes ethanol and more in Riga

The Green Plains ethanol facility between Riga and Blissfield, Michigan. Copyright 2014, River Raisin Publications, Inc.
The Green Plains ethanol facility between Riga and Blissfield, Michigan. Copyright 2014, River Raisin Publications, Inc.

RIGA β€” While corn harvest in the region is still weeks away, there remains is a steady stream of corn-laden semi trucks heading east just over the railroad tracks on Silberhorn Highway south of U.S. 223 daily.

According to officials at the Green Plains Renewable Energy ethanol production facility, between 80 and 100 semi trucks unload corn there every day and approximately 57 million gallons of ethanol go out each year.

Green Plains has been operating in Riga since it purchased Global Energy in 2010 that included the Riga location which has now been in operation for seven years. While the main product the facility produces is ethanol, several other products made from the corn is also produced on site. Distillers grain used for feed, corn syrup and corn oil are shipped out and carbon dioxide products are produced by a neighboring company.

β€œIt is all local grain,” plant manager Bill Welever said. Local farmers, and other Michigan farmers are the main source of the corn.

Want to learn more about ethanol production in Lenawee County? For Melissa Burnor’s complete story on a recent visit to the ethanol plant just outside Blissfield, please pick up a copy of the Sept. 17, 2014, edition of The Advance. Weekly delivery is easy! Just call 517-486-2400 to subscribe!