Pacific Ethanol starts making corn oil in Stockton

 STOCKTON

 October 9, 2013 7:47am 

•  Plant will still produce ethanol

•  “An important strategy to further diversify our plant revenue streams”

Pacific Ethanol Inc. (NASDAQ: PEIX) of Sacramento has a new revenue stream flowing from its plant in Stockton’s inland seaport industrial park.

It’s corn oil, being made with Visalia-based Edeniq Inc.'s “Oil Plus” proprietary process.

"We are pleased to be producing corn oil at our Stockton plant,” says Neil Koehler, Pacific Ethanol’s president and CEO. “Corn oil is a high value co-product with multiple markets including animal feed and biodiesel. Corn oil production at our ethanol plants is an important strategy to further diversify our plant revenue streams and significantly improve operating income."

Corn oil production by ethanol plants that use raw corn to make ethanol, is becoming more common in the industry.

“Relatively simple ethanol plants produce ethanol and distillers grains from corn. More advanced plants are able to recover other products, like corn oil, from a portion of the distillers grains,” the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in March. “Ethanol plants with corn oil recovery units are able to earn more revenue, so they usually have higher profit margins than plants without corn oil recovery, even if their production costs are slightly higher.”

Corn oil is but one strategy to bolster the bottom line, the EIA says, citing as an example the ethanol plant in Keyes in Stanislaus County.

“Others involve switching to processes that are more advantageous under the renewable fuels standard. For instance, Aemetis in Keyes … is changing its feedstock from corn to sorghum and replacing its natural gas consumption with biomass,” the report says.

In addition to its Stockton plant, Pacific Ethanol operates ethanol plants in Boardman, Ore., and Burley, Idaho. It also has one idled facility in Madera.

http://www.centralvalleybusinesstimes.com/stories/001/?ID=24372