Construction of Arkansas ethanol plant about to begin

By Candy McCampbell

Colusa Biomass Inc. says it will start construction by early September in Stuttgart, Ark., on an $80 million plant to convert rice hulls and rice straw into ethanol and commercial silica/sodium oxide.

The plant will be located in the heart of the state’s rice production area on a 40-acre tract in the Stuttgart Industrial Park. The site is southeast of Little Rock.

Colusa, based in Reno, Nev., is presently working with BBI Biofuels of Denver on engineering and design, and expects to sign an engineering/procurement/construction contract by the end of this week or early next week, Tom Bowers, Colusa CEO, says.

Final permits are expected soon after, he says.

Construction will start first on a $3.2 million prototype plant, to be built by year’s end. After fine-tuning the production process there, it will start work on the main plant, which is scheduled to be in production by late 2009.

The plant is designed for production of 12.5 million gals of ethanol fuel and 152,000 tons of silica/sodium oxide a year, he says.

Bowers called the rice-to-energy plant a “first” after a recent appearance before the Arkansas Plant Board.

Arkansas rice production in 2007 was almost 4.8 million tons, or about one-half of all rice produced in the United States. About 900 tons of that were hulls.

Richard Bell, state agriculture secretary and a former rice production executive, has said a ton of rice hulls yields 92 gallons of ethanol. Silica/sodium oxide is used in the electronics and solar panel production industries.

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