BIO-REFINERY MOVES FORWARD IN STANLEY
Monday, January 31st, 2005 -- 11:07 AM
A first-of-its-kind bio-refinery facility in Stanley is moving forward ? and it could be producing high-valued sugars ? or pectins - for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries by the end of the year. Alex Samardzich (za-mar-zich) is President of Ace Ethanol and Ace Bio-Refining in Stanley.Originally looking at using just ?distillers grain? ? a corn by-product of the ethanol-making process ? ACE utilized a $29,000 grant from the state Department of Agriculture and found cranberry and beet pulp were a much more efficient by-product to be turned into high-value sugars.
"Those are used in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries," Samardzich explains, saying some of the pectins are used as low-calorie sweeteners.
Samardzich says Ace?s product will likely be superior to similar products on the market.
"It will be made 'bioly'," Samardzich says, "It will be a much better product than the product that's out there now, which is chemically produced."
The ethanol plant produces about 100,000 tons of distillers grain per year. Some of that will be sent to the bio-refinery, but Ace will also be looking for both in ? and out of state beet and cranberry producers to ship their by-product to Stanley.
The ?steam explosion, crystallization? process that will be used at the facility has never been put to this use before. Innovative Biotechnologies expects to employ 35 residents and generate around $19-million for the local economy.
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