Ever since startup in 1996 with a 15 MMgy capacity, diversification has been Chippewa Valley Ethanol Co.’s modus operandi, according to Chad Friese, general manager and CEO of CVEC. Located in Benson, Minnesota, the plant’s current 50 MMgy capacity and product portfolio reflects a focus on diversification over expansion. Built in a pre-Renewable Fuel Standard environment, CVEC leadership is accustomed to maximizing products and profits within the plant’s compact footprint.
“We’re a smaller plant,” Friese says. “When the RFS came out, rather than expand and get big, [the company chose to] drive cost structures down. We took an approach of, ‘Well, let’s diversify, let’s find niche markets, let’s add revenue wherever we can to help offset those cost structure pieces [associated with being a] smaller plant.’”
Chippewa Valley Agrafuels Cooperative built the ethanol plant two years after the cooperative formed in 1994 and still owns the facility. The cooperative operates the ethanol plant and serves as the parent company of Glacial Grain Spirits, which produces organic alcohol used for spirits and preservatives; food-grade ethyl alcohol, which can be used for beverages, cleaners and cosmetics; and specially denatured alcohols, which are used in non-edible product manufacturing.