OMAHA, NEBRASKA, US — Green Plains Inc.’s wholly own-subsidiary, Green Plains Wood River LLC, has begun the installation of a high protein production facility utilizing Fluid Quip Technologies’ patented MSC technology, the second installation across the Green Plains platform.

“The addition of high protein production using Fluid Quip’s MSC technology was the next logical step in the transformation of Wood River to a modern, sustainable, agricultural biorefinery,” said Todd Becker, president and chief executive officer of Green Plains. “We have already achieved significant operating cost reductions and efficiency gains at the plant through Project 24 upgrades, as well as converted 25 million gallons of production capacity to high purity, industrial B-grade alcohol, and expect to meet USP specifications in early 2021.”

The Wood River project is expected to come online during the second quarter of 2021 and should produce approximately 80,000 tonnes of high protein feed annually at concentrations of 50% and higher protein depending on the customers’ needs. Total capital investment is anticipated to be $50 million.

“With this addition, our total high protein feed ingredient capacity will more than double, increasing to over 130 thousand tons annually,” Becker said. “This allows us to provide our customers with a premium product at scale, with built in redundancies, enabling us to remain on track to execute long-term offtake and supply agreements ahead of startup. This investment further demonstrates our commitment to becoming a premier provider of sustainable proteins and novel ingredients to help meet the growing global demand in human and animal nutrition.”

In the future, Green Plains said it will refer to its protein products that have a protein concentration of 50% or higher as ultra-high protein.

Green Plains is one of the leading corn processors in the world and, through its adjacent businesses, is focused on the production of high-protein feed ingredients. Green Plains owns a 50% interest in Green Plains Cattle Company LLC and owns a 48.9% limited partner interest and a 2.0% general partner interest in Green Plains Partners LP.