Biodiesel plant set for grand opening

The Deerfield Biodiesel Plant, which will be holding a grand opening ceremony Saturday, Aug. 23. -- Submitted Photo [Click to enlarge]

The Fort Scott Tribune

DEERFIELD, Mo. -- A public event to celebrate the grand opening of an area soybean oil and biodiesel plant has been planned for later in the month.

A grand opening ceremony, along with other activities and presentations are planned to take place between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 23, at Prairie Pride, Inc., a combination soybean oil extraction-biodiesel refining facility located at 17700 S. T Highway, about six miles east of Fort Scott near Eve, Mo.

The company's $80 million 210-acre production facility, which began operations last fall, crushes soybeans to extract the soy oil, a product which is then refined into biodiesel fuel.

The gates of the facility will open at 8 a.m., Aug. 23, at which time attendees will be able to tour the entire plant. Company staff will be stationed at various points during the tour to explain the purpose of the plant's equipment, and the process the company uses to produce and sell its main products; soybean meal and biodiesel fuel, Prairie Pride, Inc. Human Resources Coordinator Caroline Phillips said.

United States Rep. Isaac "Ike" Skelton, D-Missouri, is scheduled to give a presentation at 10:30 a.m. the day of the event. Skelton, a 31-year Congressman, represents Missouri's 4th Congressional District. Other local politicians are also scheduled to be present to help celebrate the grand opening of the facility, Phillips said.

Representatives of former Missouri governor and current U.S. Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Missouri, and U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, are also expected to attend the ceremony and speak on behalf of the senators, she said.

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The gates of the facility will close to the public at 2 p.m., following the conclusion of the event.

Prairie Pride is a new generation producer cooperative that requires the producer to be a member in order to sell to the plant, which will eventually convert 21 million bushels of soybeans each year into 30 million gallons of biodiesel fuel, and 486,000 tons of soybean meal that can be fed to livestock. Co-op producers from five or six nearby states share in the ownership and profit of the operation.

Producers and farmers in Bourbon County, Vernon County, Mo., and other surrounding counties within a 100-mile radius will benefit from the plant. Prairie Pride, Inc., receives a percentage of the profits for every gallon of biodiesel sold. More than 1,000 producers have invested money in the plant. The average investment per producer is about $36,000, company officials said.

One of the plant's primary purposes is to allow area producers a way to market their product without spending a large amount of money on freight costs associated with shipping it to larger, more distant cities. The company also hopes to help reduce United States dependency on foreign oil, and reduce pollution through the use of clean, biodegradable fuel, according to the company's Web site, www.prairieprideinc.us.

The plant is expected to generate more than $250 million in gross income annually, and employs between 35 and 40 people directly. The creation of the company also resulted in 1,300 additional independent jobs. A group of soybean farmers started working on an idea for the plant in 2005 after determining a way to add value to their product. A successful feasibility study was also conducted on the project that year.

Construction on the facility, which was divided into phases, began in late 2006 and was completed this year. The company began producing biodiesel from purchased crude soybean oil in November 2007, and began commercial soybean crushing operations in June of this year, the company Web site said.

A 6-inch water line under two Fort Scott city streets, which will cost Prairie Pride, Inc. about $1 million to install and maintain, pumps treated wastewater from the city's wastewater treatment plant to the Prairie Pride, Inc. plant, which uses an average of 340,000 gallons of water for various plant purposes each day, officials said.

The Fort Scott City Commission approved an agreement to sell the city's wastewater to Prairie Pride, Inc., last November.