Ground’s been broken on a new biodiesel plant in the Northern Missouri town of Moberly.

This story in the Moberly (MO) Monitor says the $16.5 million Producer’s Choice Soy Energy plant and soybean crushing facility could be in operation by the beginning of March 2009:

The almost 14-acre tract is filled with corn stubble today. But construction, to be done by Process Concepts of Pevely, MO, will begin soon. PCSE qualified for the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s Producer Incentive program last October. Under those guidelines, the state will pay PCSE 30-cents per gallon on the first 15 mgy of biodiesel created during the first five years of operation. One of the conditions of the incentive, however, is that the plant must be producing biodiesel by March 1, 2009. It is estimated the plant could be completed in 10 months.

Mark Johnston, the general contractor, told the gathering Friday that Process Concepts had built four such plants in Missouri. He said the Moberly facility had a better chance of success than some others he was acquainted with since the plant here would be diversified by having the crushing plant in addition to the biodiesel. The plant is estimated to produce 5 million gallons of biodiesel annually with expectations to increase that to 30 million gallons in the future. In addition, the plant will have a capacity to mechanically crush up to 250 tons of soybeans daily. The soybean crush will provide feedstock for the biodiesel conversion as well as 65,000 tons of extruded soybean meal each year.

City officials say they will provide the infrastructure and tax abatements to ensure the success of the plant.