A biodiesel plant under construction at the 50 MMgy Adkins Energy LLC ethanol refinery in Lena, Ill., will soon be making its first gallons of fuel. Adkins Energy General Manager Ray Baker told Biodiesel Magazine he anticipates biodiesel production to begin in early October.

This first-of-its-kind, co-located and fully integrated 2 MMgy biodiesel processing facility, designed and built by WB Services LLC, will be fed by distillers corn oil, a coproduct of ethanol production. The plant will be capable of both enzymatic and chemical biodiesel processing.

Bernie Hoffman, chief operating officer and partner at WB Services, said Adkins Energy personnel have already begun training at WB Services’ now-operational 2 MMgy Green Energy Products biodiesel plant in Sedgwick, Kan., an identical model of the plant co-located at Adkins Energy minus the ethanol plant integration features. 

Hoffman added that WB Services’ 3 MMgy renewable diesel facility in Sedgwick is undergoing commissioning now, and he expects it to hit nameplate capacity by mid-October. The renewable diesel facility will be replicated and integrated into at least two publicly announced ethanol plants, Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy and East Kansas Agri-Energy. Hoffman said those projects are still in the engineering phase.