MAUMEE, Ohio, March 6, 2018 /CNW/ -- The Andersons, Inc.
(Nasdaq: ANDE) and ICM, Inc., announced today the formation of
ELEMENT, LLC, a joint venture that will construct a 70
million-gallon-per-year bio-refinery located in Colwich, Kansas, adjacent to ICM's
headquarters. This strategic partnership will build and operate a
technologically advanced ethanol production facility featuring
several of ICM's cutting-edge equipment and process technologies.
The combination of ICM's next-generation technologies and The
Andersons' merchandising, risk management and logistics expertise
has the potential to produce the highest yielding, highest margin
and lowest carbon intensity ethanol gallon in the United States today.
"This investment executes on several of our stated strategic
priorities, such as operating highly efficient and profitable
ethanol production facilities, increasing capacity under
management, developing new technologies with higher value
co-products and expanding our fee based services offering," said
Pat Bowe, CEO of The Andersons.
The plant is designed to be the most efficient dry mill ethanol
plant in the United States. The
features that will differentiate this plant from all others in the
industry include waste wood heat and power generation, high protein
distillers dried grains (DDGs), industry-leading cellulosic ethanol
production using corn kernel fiber feedstock and advanced corn oil
production. The plant is expected to produce ethanol yields in
excess of 3.1 gallons per bushel at full capacity. The carbon
intensity score for both the corn and cellulosic ethanol production
will lead the industry and further demonstrate ICM and The
Andersons' commitment to environmental sustainability. Ethanol
produced by ELEMENT will be sold primarily in California under the state's progressive Low
Carbon Fuel Standard as well as in other emerging low carbon
markets.
Technology and site preparations have been underway by ICM for
several years. Phase one start up is expected to occur in second
quarter 2019. ELEMENT is expected to be fully operational by
year-end 2019. The Andersons expects the investment in the plant to
be accretive within one year of start-up.
"Twelve years ago, we worked with ICM to build the first of our
ethanol plants," said Mike Irmen,
President, The Andersons Ethanol Group. "Since then, our ethanol
business has grown to become a significant contributor to our
Company's success and an important part of our vision for the
future. We are excited to begin this partnership with ICM and
eagerly anticipate the value it will bring to our company, our
customers, and our shareholders."
Dave VanderGriend, ICM founder
and CEO concluded, "This collaboration brings two leading players
in the corn-ethanol industry together. At the core, we have similar
values, similar expectations of excellence, and the same relentless
pursuit to improve our businesses, our people and our
communities."
The Andersons will host a webcast on Wedesday, March 7, 2018, at 8:30
a.m. Eastern Standard Time to provide more information about
the project. To access the call, please dial 866-439-8514 or
678-509-7568 (participant passcode is 8095609). We recommend that
you call 10 minutes before the conference call begins. To access
the webcast, click on the link:
https://edge.media-server.com/m6/p/vgazgg42. Complete the four
fields as directed and click submit. A replay of the call can also
be accessed under the heading "Investors" on the Company website at
www.andersonsinc.com.
About The Andersons, Inc.
Founded in
Maumee, Ohio, in 1947, The
Andersons is a diversified company rooted in agriculture,
conducting business across North
America in the grain, ethanol, plant nutrient and rail
sectors. The Andersons Ethanol Group operates ethanol plants in
Albion, Mich.; Clymers, Ind.;
Greenville, Ohio; and Denison, Iowa. The four plants combined are
capable of producing over 475 million gallons of ethanol annually.
For additional information, please visit www.andersonsinc.com.
About ICM, Inc.
Established in 1995 and headquartered
in Colwich, Kan., with a regional
office in Brazil, ICM, Inc.
provides innovative technologies, solutions, and services to
sustain agriculture and to advance renewable energy, including
ethanol and feed technologies that will increase the supply of
world protein. By providing proprietary process technologies to
over 100 facilities globally with a combined production capacity of
approximately 8.8 billion gallons of annual ethanol production and
25 million tons of annual distillers grains, ICM has become a world
leader in bio-refining technologies. For additional information,
please visit www.icminc.com.
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SOURCE The Andersons, Inc.