Dakota Ethanol has surpassed one billion gallons of ethanol production at its 90 million-gallon-per-year facility in Wentworth, South Dakota.

Dakota Ethanol began production in September 2001 with a nameplate capacity of 40 MGY by its parent company Lake Area Corn Processors, with a membership of over 1,000 local farmers, investors, and community members. The expansion to running at a 90-million-gallon rate has allowed for improved operational efficiencies, which have been important in improving the plant’s carbon intensity (CI) score. The plant continues to focus on operational efficiencies to reduce costs and improve CI revenues the plant receives from shipping its ethanol to low carbon markets in the western U.S.

“I’m proud of how Dakota Ethanol has been able to utilize and monetize its lower-than-average CI through plant efficiencies,” said Ron Alverson, a Dakota Ethanol board member and former president of the American Coalition for Ethanol. “There’s more opportunities ahead for the plant to further reduce its CI, including proving our area growers produce corn more efficiently than the default CI the marketplace currently assigns to raising a bushel of corn. I have no doubt many producers can achieve zero carbon ethanol in the future if properly accredited for their contributions to decreasing lifecycle greenhouse gases.”

Dakota Ethanol produces 90 million gallons of ethanol from 30 million bushels of locally grown corn each year. The plant employs 45 full-time individuals, many who have been with the company since startup.