CountryMark to cut ribbon on $100 million expansion in Mount Vernon
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Indianapolis-based CountryMark will mark a milestone Tuesday by cutting the ribbon on a more than $100 million expansion of its diesel fuel production operation in Mount Vernon.
The farmer-owned cooperative, which operates in oil production, refining and marketing, said the upgrades to the refinery will not only improve its diesel fuel quality but also increase production of renewable diesel.
The facility will be able to create co-processed renewable diesel by combining renewable feedstocks such as soybean oil with conventional diesel.
“The world is becoming lower carbon and going down this trajectory of reducing carbon,” CountryMark CEO Matt Smorch told Inside INdiana Business. “We can process up to 10% renewable feedstocks, and that will reduce the carbon intensity of our diesel fuel.”
The co-op is sourcing refined, bleached and deodorized soybean oil from soybean farmers in Indiana and surrounding areas, with the potential of using up to 20 million gallons of oil per year.
“Being able to go and use locally grown soybeans that get processed into oils, and then be able to go and run that at our refinery and put it in with our diesel fuel, and then we’re selling that diesel fuel back to the farmers that own CountryMark,” Smorch said. “So it’s almost like a circular economy.”
Smorch said the renewable diesel created through the process differs from traditional biodiesel. It meets certain diesel specifications, is stable in long-term storage, and has a low-cloud point, he said.
“The one thing that we’re able to do is use the existing technology that we have at the refinery and be able to go and just co-process some of the renewable feedstocks along with our diesel fuel to make renewable diesel,” he said. “That just makes it way more efficient and more cost efficient for us to be able to do that.”
CountryMark broke ground on the expansion last fall after several years of development. The co-op officially started up the technology last month and began initial technology validation this month. Work will begin in August to increase diesel fuel production and the co-processing for the renewable diesel will commence in September.
Smorch said the expansion is just the start of renewable diesel production for CountryMark.
“We’ll get the ability to run renewables. We’ll understand them better. We’ll understand the technology better,” he said. “And then, who knows? Down the road, maybe in the next 10-15 years, when the need for additional renewable diesel supply comes about, maybe we have to make another investment where we’re making more and can make more renewable diesel for our farmers.”
CountryMark employs about 500 people across its entire footprint. While no new jobs were created with the expansion, Smorch emphasized the investment in the co-op’s existing operations.
“Over the years, diesel fuel quality has gotten tighter and has improved. This is our chance for CountryMark to go and differentiate ourselves in the marketplace, making the best diesel fuel even better.”