Huge biodiesel plant comes to Plains

 

Huge biodiesel plant comes to Plains
Published in the Americus Times Recorder - Michael J. Ross

 

A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled For Feb. 20 for a 25 million-gallon-a-year biodiesel production plant in Plains.

Plains Mayor "Boze" Godwin said Tuesday he wasn't exactly sure how big the footprint of the plant would be or how much the plant would cost.

 

He does know the facility will be built in the area of Windham Castings on Jimmy Carter Industrial Drive and will employ approximately 30 people.

 

"I'm excited this area of the state will have this type of plant," said Godwin. "The trickle-down effect will be great."

 

But he said the positive economic impact of the plant will go far beyond those 30 jobs. Godwin said, from his understanding, the plant will use canola and soybeans to make the biodiesel, which will be very beneficial to some area farmers.

 

The main byproduct of manufacturing the biodiesel will be glycerin, said Godwin. Glycerin is "a colorless, odorless, syrupy, sweet liquid, C3H8O3, usually obtained by the saponification of natural fats and oils: used for sweetening and preserving food, in the manufacture of cosmetics, perfumes, inks and certain glues and cements, as a solvent and automobile antifreeze, and in medicine in suppositories and skin emollients, according to dictionary.reference.com.

 

Godwin said the plant will use a relatively small amount of water and won't have a noticeable effect on the environment. He said the engineering plans for the plant haven't been finalized at this point, but the investors hope to use local contractors to build the plant.

Godwin said Wayne Johnson of Macon is one of the main investors of the plant.