Source:  Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 6/20/11

The Iowa Power Fund Board announced it has awarded over $4.1 million for four statewide renewable energy projects, including one on poultry gasification and one on cellulosic ethanol production.

PL Energy, LLC of Des Moines received a grant of $2 million to install a demonstration scale on-farm poultry litter gasification system at Denyon Farms near Webster City, Iowa.

The system will use the poultry litter waste stream to produce electricity, process heat for the barns, biochar to use as a soil amendment, and ammonia fertilizer.

PL Energy will leverage $3 million in matching funds for a total project cost of $5 million.

The board also granted Quad County Corn Processors $1.45 million to construct a full-scale plant at its Galva, Iowa ethanol facility to demonstrate its patent-pending cellulosic ethanol process.

The process could be applied at existing corn starch ethanol plants to increase ethanol production, create a high-value protein feed product and recover more corn oil than a conventional ethanol plant. Quad County Corn Processors will provide $5 million in funding for a total project cost of $6.5 million.

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