Biofuel Plant Using Sugar Beets Planned by Green Vision Group

Green Vision Group, a Fargo-based company has announced its plans to convert sugar beets into an efficient, money-spinning biofuel, ethanol. It is preparing to construct a demonstration plant, the first of its kind in the nation.

The project would cost $5 million and as yet a site has not been identified. In due course, the company has plans of growing hundreds of beets producing ethanol in several thousand acres of land in the Red River Valley of North Dakota. These beets would be specially used for energy production and not as food.

According to Maynard Helgaas, President of Green Vision, beets could produce double the amount of ethanol when compared to corn, which is now the chief producer of ethanol. The ethanol produced from beet also utilizes less water than corn as beets themselves have a lot of water in them. The by-product obtained from the beet conversion could also be burned and employed as a fertilizer. Green Vision has revealed that they plan to have the first plant operating by the year 2012 and commercial production by late 2012 or early 2014.