By Cheryl Anderson
DTN Staff Reporter

DAVENPORT, Neb. (DTN) -- A Nebraska company that is manufacturing a distillers grains-based plastic resin enhancer will begin phase one of production at their facility in Laurel, Neb., soon.

Laurel BioComposite, LLC, is producing Bio-Res, the company's patented bio-material. It uses dried distillers grains which are made into a dry-ground product that is pelleted and mixed with polypropylene or polyethylene, the two most widely used resin systems. Thermal plastics cover about 50% of the plastic industry. The product is a light-colored material that can be used in a variety of colored plastics well suited for such applications as shipping, lawn and garden, agriculture and automotive industries.

The company is just finishing construction of a new 12,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, according to Annette Junck, business manager of Laurel BioComposite.

Construction of a pilot plant was finished in mid-November of 2011. By December 2011, the company had produced enough of bioresin enhancer from distillers grains to ship the first test batches of its product to seven companies for testing.

Laurel BioComposite has since produced enough material at that pilot plant to send out to even more companies to test for uses such as flower pots, pallets, storage containers, etc.

Phase one, which began in April 2013, is targeted to deliver an annual commercial production rate of about 7 million pounds. Phase one has included construction of the new plant, and placement of new equipment, including an ENTEK E-Max 53mm twin screw extruder and an Amtek Microwave system.

Phase one is targeted to be completed in early June when production begins at the new facility.

Phase two will bring production levels up to 48 million pounds and should be completed in late fourth quarter 2013.

GREEN PRODUCT

Using Bio-Res will enable companies to raise the renewable or "green" content of plastic products by as much as 40%, by replacing traditional petroleum-based resins in a number of production processes.

The bio-material replaces petroleum-based resins in plastics. Since the company uses distillers grains, a renewable feedstock, for production companies trying to find ways to get more sustainable materials into their products are targeted.

Other attempts to produce bio-based resins have not been successful, as they were produced with certain negative attributes. Sometimes the quality of end products made with sustainable materials is weakened; however, Bio-Res actually enhances the strength of the final product.

Another problem has been objectionable odor from the sustainable materials. That has also been corrected in the Bio-Res pellets.

The company also sequesters carbon-dioxide and does not use toxic compounds during the production process.

"The potential for this is huge -- it is really a selling point," Junck said. "A lot of times using green materials can become cost prohibitive, so companies don't go that route. We can produce our product at a price competitive with virgin resins."

DISTILLERS GRAINS

The company has used dried distillers grains as feedstock for its Bio-Res production since its beginning.

Junck said they purchase all their DDG locally from Husker Ag in Plainview. She said they have not had problems securing DDG during production at the test facility and added that the high DDG prices last fall were not prohibitive.

Cheryl Anderson can be reached at Cheryl.anderson@telventdtn.com.

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DTN WEEKLY DISTILLERS GRAIN SPOT PRICES

CURRENT	PREVIOUS
COMPANY	STATE	5/24/2013	5/10/2013	CHANGE
Bartlett and Company, Kansas City, MO (816-753-6300)
	Missouri	Dry	$235	$235	$0
		Modified	$135	$135	$0
CHS, Minneapolis, MN (800-769-1066)
	Illinois	Dry	$230	$230	$0
	Indiana	Dry	$230	$230	$0
	Iowa	Dry	$228	$225	$3
	Minnesota	Dry	$220	$222	-$2
	North Dakota	Dry	$235	$230	$5
	New York	Dry	$230	$245	-$15
	South Dakota	Dry	$225	$220	$5
Hawkeye Gold, IA (515-663-6413)
	Iowa	Dry	$228	NA
		Modified	$117	NA
MGP Ingredients, Atchison, KS (800-255-0302 Ext. 5253)
	Kansas	Dry	$220	$230	-$10
United BioEnergy, Wichita, KS (316-616-3521)
	Kansas	Dry	$225	$230	-$5
		Wet	$70	$75	-$5
	Illinois	Dry	$250	$250	$0
	Nebraska	Dry	$225	$230	-$5
		Wet	$70	$75	-$5
	Wisconsin	Dry	$225	$225	$0
U.S. Commodities, Minneapolis, MN (888-293-1640)
	Illinois	Dry	$235	$230	$5
	Indiana	Dry	$230	$225	$5
	Iowa	Dry	$225	$215	$10
	Michigan	Dry	$230	$225	$5
	Minnesota	Dry	$218	$212	$6
	Nebraska	Dry	$218	$220	-$2
	New York	Dry	$235	$230	$5
	North Dakota	Dry	$225	$220	$5
	Ohio	Dry	$230	$225	$5
	South Dakota	Dry	$215	$210	$5
	Wisconsin	Dry	$232	$225	$7
Valero Energy Corp., San Antonio, TX (402-727-5300)
Indiana	Dry	$230	$225	$5
	Iowa	Dry	$225	$220	$5
	Minnesota	Dry	$220	$220	$0
	Nebraska	Dry	$220	$220	$0
Ohio	Dry	$235	$225	$10
	South Dakota	Dry	$210	$220	-$10
Western Milling, Goshen, California (559-302-1074)
	California	Dry	$287	$287	$0
*Prices listed per ton.
	Weekly Average		$227	$226	$1
The weekly average prices above reflect only those companies DTN
collects spot prices from. States include: Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska,
Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan,
Wisconsin and Indiana. Prices for Pennsylvania, New York and
California are not included in the averages.

*The spot prices gathered by DTN are only intended to reflect general market trends and may vary. Please contact individual plant or merchandiser for exact prices.

If you would be willing to take a weekly phone call and have your distiller grains spot prices listed in this feature, please contact Cheryl Anderson at (308) 224-1527 or (800) 369-7875, or e-mail cheryl.anderson@telventdtn.com.

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VALUE OF DDG VS. CORN & SOYBEAN MEAL
Settlement Price:	Quote Date	Bushel	Short Ton
Corn	5/23/2013	$6.6200	$236.43
Soybean Meal	5/23/2013		$437.00
DDG Weekly Average Spot Price			$227.00
DDG Value Relative to:		5/24	5/17	5/10
Corn		96.01%	98.64%	91.12%
Soybean Meal		51.95%	54.47%	51.35%
Cost Per Unit of Protein:
DDG		$9.08	$9.04	$9.04
Soybean Meal		$9.20	$8.73	$9.27
Notes:
Corn and soybean prices taken from DTN Market Quotes. DDG
price represents the average spot price from Midwest
companies collected on Thursday afternoons. Soybean meal
cost per unit of protein is cost per ton divided by 47.5.
DDG cost per unit of protein is cost per ton divided by 25.

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USDA MARKET NEWS/DISTILLER GRAINS PRICES

USDA WEEKLY DISTILLERS GRAINS SUMMARY (May 17, 2013)

	Dried	Modified	Wet
FOB PLANT PRICES PER TON
Iowa	210.00-230.00	110.00-120.00	78.00-81.00
Minnesota	210.00-215.00	125.00	75.00-80.00
Nebraska	223.00-230.00	122.00-130.00	88.00-93.00
South Dakota	205.00-214.50	117.00-125.50	77.00-85.00
Wisconsin	225.00-240.00	105.00-122.00	NQ
Eastern Corn Belt	218.00-240.00	115.00-125.00	NQ
Kansas	225.00-250.00	NQ	83.00-98.00
Northern Missouri	210.00-235.00	NQ	80.00
DELIVERED PRICES PER TON
CIF NOLA	246.00-255.00
Pacific Northwest	265.00-275.00
California	267.00-280.00
Texas Border	296.00-308.00
Lethbridge AB	250.00-257.00
Chicago	235.00-250.00

Dried Distillers Grain: 10% Moisture

Modified Wet Distillers: 50-55% Moisture

Wet Distillers Grains: 65-70% Moisture

CALIFORNIA WHOLESALE FEEDSTUFF PRICES (Tue May 21, 2013)

Distillers Dry Grains 

  FOB Truck Offers 276.00-286.00 dn 10.00-2.00 

  Rail Delivered California Points Offer 282.00 up 12.00-2.00

PACIFIC NORTHWEST WEEKLY FEED (Tue May 21, 2013)

*All prices quoted per ton unless otherwise noted.

Offers for Distillers Dried Grains delivered by rail to feed mills in the Pacific Northwest were 265.00-277.00, mixed, from 7.00 lower to 2.00 higher compared to week ago offers. Offers for distillers dried grains trans-loaded onto trucks and delivered to Willamette Valley dairies were 283.00-292.00, also mixed, from 7.00 lower to 2.00 higher compared to week ago offers.

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RFA WEEKLY U.S. LIVESTOCK FEED PRODUCITON

CO-PRODUCT OUTPUTS (metric tons)
Week Ending	Distillers Grains	Corn Gluten Feed	Corn Gluten Meal	Total Feed	Corn Oil (lbs.)
04/26/13	85267	8755	1621	95644	4463516
05/03/13	83874	8612	1595	94081	4390600
05/10/13	85267	8755	1621	95644	4463516
05/17/13	87058	8939	1655	97653	4557265

*Information from 2010 Weekly U.S. Fuel Ethanol/Livestock Feed Production report (http://www.ethanolrfa.org/…)

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IN THE NEWS

ICM Inc. Team Tests New Cellulosic Technology

ICM Inc. has been working on cellulosic conversion technology at its research facility in St. Joseph, Mo., since 2009 using a $25 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, according to an article by Ethanol Producer magazine (http://bit.ly/…).

Using five 15,000-gallon pilot fermenters and four 35,000-gallon hydrolysis/fermentation reactors in its pilot facility, ICM's patent-pending Gen 1.5 cellulosic technology is built on two types of proprietary technology: select milling technology and fiber separation technology. These two technologies can result in 14% great ethanol production yield and about 70% greater oil recovery, or the equivalent of producing the same ethanol production from 14% less corn.

The technology involves slightly more work on the front end of production with pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. While ICM is working with several companies to develop a genetically-modified yeast, federal approval will be required before being used commercially, since they end up in the distillers grain.

The ICM research and development team recently completed a six-week run of its Generation 1.5 process and has pulled more than 2,000 samples during the run, besides other extensive testing. The research and development team is preparing for a similar run on the Gen 2 cellulosic ethanol process in late summer using energy sorghum as feedstock.

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DDG CONFERENCES

*Distillers Grains Technology Council Inc.'s 17th Annual Distillers Grains Symposium

The Distillers Grains Technology Council will hold its 17th Annual Distillers Grains Symposium on May 15-16, 2013, in Bloomington, Minn. For information, contact the DGTC office at (502) 852-1575 or (800) 759-3448, or check the DGTC website (http://www.distillersgrains.org).

(If you are sponsoring or know of any event, conference or workshop on distillers grains, and would like to list it in the DTN Weekly Distillers Grains Update, please contact Cheryl Anderson (see contact info below).

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DDG LINKS/RESOURCES

Organizations

*Distillers Grains Technology Council

http://www.distillersgrains.org

*National Corn Growers Association Corn Distillers Grains Brochure

http://ncga.com/…

*Iowa Corn

http://www.iowacorn.org/…

*Renewable Fuels Association - Ethanol Co-Products

http://www.ethanolrfa.org/…

*American Coalition for Ethanol

http://www.ethanol.org/…

*U.S. Grains Council

http://www.grains.org/…

*South Dakota Corn Utilization Council

http://www.drieddistillersgrains.com

Government Sites

*Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship/Office of Renewable Fuels & Coproducts

http://www.distillersgrains.com

University Sites

*University of Minnesota - Distillers Grains By-Products in Livestock

and Poultry Feed

http://www.ddgs.umn.edu

*University of Illinois - Illinois Livestock Integrated Focus Team Distillers Grains site

http://ilift.traill.uiuc.edu/…

*University of Nebraska - Beef Cattle Production By-Product Feeds site

http://beef.unl.edu/…

*University of Nebraska Extension

http://ianrpubs.unl.edu/…

*Iowa Beef Center - Iowa State University

http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/…

*University of Missouri - Byproducts Resource Page

http://agebb.missouri.edu/…

*South Dakota State University - Dairy Science Department - Dairy cattle research

http://dairysci.sdstate.edu/…

(select "Distillers Grains" from the topic menu)

*Purdue University Renewable Energy Web Site

http://www.extension.purdue.edu/…

(select "Biofuels Co-Products from the menu)

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We welcome any comments/suggestions for this feature. Please let us know what information is valuable to you that we could include in the Distillers Grains Weekly Update. Please feel free to contact Cheryl Anderson at (308) 224-1527, or e-mail cheryl.anderson@telventdtn.com.

(AG/SK)

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