Bionol Clearfield, LLC, a 110 MMgy ethanol plant based in Clearfield, Pa is officially in production according to general manager Roger Schmidt. Performance testing began on February 8th and today, the plant is running at 100 percent. This is the first ethanol plant in the state and will use corn to produce the ethanol. According to Schmidt, the plant’s advantage is that it is located close to several New York blending terminals which will help ethanol to break into that marketplace.

Ethanol Producer Magazine also announced that North Carolina’s first ethanol plant, Clean Burn Fuels, is nearing completion. The biorefinery will will produce 60 MMgy of corn-based ethanol and 175,000 tons of dried distillers grains per year. In the article, Doug Archer the general manager, anticipates that the plant’s first grind is less than eight weeks away.

Both of these plants will come online at a time when the market is turning more favorable for ethanol. On February 3, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced is expanded rules for the Renewable Fuels Standard. Of special note, is that corn-based ethanol, when compared to conventional gasoline, lowers greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 20 percent. In addition, all new corn-based ethanol plants are now considered compliant with the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that states that all conventional biofuels much reduce GHG emissions by at least 20 percent.