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Ethanol production helped to more than double first quarter profits for number one ethanol producer Archer Daniels Midland.

Net income was up 116 percent in the quarter ending September 30 to a total of $403 million, much of that due to a more than 300 percent increase in corn bioproducts, mostly ethanol. ADM senior VP of Corporate Affairs Brian Peterson said profits were up versus last year on increased prices and they are looking forward to continuing involvement in the ethanol industry. “We have completed the permitting process for the 275 million gallon ethanol plant in Columbus, Nebraska and expect to complete construction in about 24 months. The 275 million gallon plant in Cedar Rapids (IA) is currrently in the permitting process.”

ADM intends to boost ethanol capacity by almost 50 percent to 1.6 billion gallons by 2008 to take advantage of increased demand for the alternative fuel as gasoline prices rise.

ADM’s complete first quarter earnings presentation is available on line here.

According to the National Corn Growers Association, U.S. corn producers are providing enough corn to meet the demands of the ethanol industry, as well as other markets.

National Corn Growers Association Vice President of Public Policy Jon Doggett delivered this message in Washington, D.C. last week at “Biofuels and the Future of U.S. Energy,” hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Other speakers at the event included U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman and a number of government, industry and academic representatives.

Doggett participated on a panel where he presented the association’s 15 x 15 x 15 vision that calls for corn growers producing 15 billion bushels of corn to produce 15 billion gallons of ethanol by 2015.

“Through increasing corn yields, improved seed technology and overall improved ethanol plant production efficiency–among other things–this vision is very conceivable,” he said.

Read more here.

The number of ethanol plants operating, under construction or being planned in Nebraska continues to grow.

The latest map from the Renewable Fuels Association posted last week has Nebraska with ten operating plants and nine under construction. But, that’s apparently already out of date as plants keep popping up like prairie dogs in the Cornhusker State.

The Omaha World Herald reports that there are 12 operating and ten being built, with 30 more in the planning stages according to the Nebraska Ethanol Board.

If all the proposed plants were built, combined with those currently in operation, Nebraska would be propelled from the third to the No. 1 state in ethanol production. At full capacity, the 52 plants would produce 3.7 billion gallons of ethanol annually.

They also would consume 1.4 billion bushels of corn – about 180 million bushels more than the state’s farmers expect to harvest in 2006.

Another story from the Herald reports that Gov. Dave Heineman said Nebraska has more plants under production than any other state and called ethanol “the greatest economic development opportunity for rural Nebraska in a decade.”

“At some point could we build too many ethanol plants? I suppose,” said Heineman, who is due to become chairman of the Governors Ethanol Coalition in January. “But I think that is way in the future.”

Links to the Omaha World Herald articles require registration to view.

The first ethanol plant to operate without the use of fossil fuels is scheduled to begin production before the end of the year in Nebraska.

E3 BioFuels has announced that the Genesis plant in Mead, Nebraska is “the first-ever closed-loop system for distilling commercial quantities of ethanol using methane gas recaptured from cow manure, instead of fossil fuels. This virtually eliminates the need for fossil fuels in the production of ethanol.”

According to a press release, The closed-loop system — derived from an exclusive patent co-owned by an affiliate of E3 BioFuels — combines a 25-million-gallon ethanol refinery, beef cattle feedlot, and anaerobic digesters to maximize energy efficiencies unavailable to each component on a stand-alone basis. This system eliminates the potential for manure to pollute watersheds, and it enables the wet distillers grain from ethanol production to be fed on-site to cattle without energy-intensive drying and transportation costs.