Homeland Energy Solutions celebrates big milestone
As of August, Homeland Energy Solutions in Lawler has made over the 1 billion gallons of ethanol that was all produced locally! Kevin Howes, plant manager, said Homeland Energy Solutions has expanded through optimization first and then capital investments.“The company strives to get the most out of what we have while using a Team approach. We value our vendors and suppliers and we treat them as partners,” said Howes.Homeland Energy Solutions is currently operating at over 150 million gallon rate resulting in Homeland being one of the largest dry grind plants and is one of the most efficient plants in operation today. To achieve this status Homeland has invested in Advance Process Control, Corn Oil Recovery, additional corn and ethanol storage, increasing the corn grind capacity, three additional fermenters and one liquefaction tank and most importantly training and developing our most important assets, Homeland’s employees.“While we were not the first plant to reach 1 billion gallons, we reached this milestone as quick as any other plant in the country. This would not have been possible without a very proactive Board of Directors and an outstanding group of employees. It has and continues to be an honor and a privilege to be a part of and lead one of the best teams in the industry. I am looking forward to producing the next billion gallons,” said Howes.So what does this mean?• 1 BILLION gallons of ethanol is 34,722 tank gallons.• Homeland Energy Solutions has produced 2,632,994 pounds of distillers grains.• 162,434,456 pounds of corn oil has been produced.• HES has approximately purchased over 340 million bushels of corn which equals approximately $1.7 billion dollars.• HES maintenance costs are industry leading along with the labor costs per gallon.Homeland Energy Solutions will host an open house to celebrate the billionth gallon of ethanol milestone on Saturday, Oct. 22 from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. with a grilled lunch, tours of the facility and kids activities.
