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Ethanol is Flowing at GreenField Ethanol Johnstown Plant

JOHNSTOWN

GreenField Ethanol, Canada’s leading ethanol producer, today announced that it has begun producing ethanol at its new 200 million litre Johnstown plant in Eastern Ontario.

Ethanol production started at 9:15 pm on Monday, December 8. The company had begun grinding corn on December 3 and by December 10 – just a week later – the plant had reached its full ethanol production capacity.

“This is excellent timing for this type of plant technology; the best result possible,” said company Vice President Marty Cormier. “We are thrilled with the way the facility is operating.”

GreenField Johnstown’s first ethanol shipment on December 10 was delivered to Imperial Oil. The plant is also now shipping dried distillers’ grains (DDG) – a high protein animal feed and a valuable co-product of ethanol production – to its customers.

“This new ethanol plant couldn’t have come at a better time, as Canadians face economic uncertainty and the threat of global warming,” said Robert Gallant, President and CEO of GreenField. “Our Johnstown facility brings this community 46 permanent full-time jobs, an average of 352 construction jobs and a new market for local corn farmers. What’s more, it will stimulate the local economy and reduce greenhouse gasses by 370,000 tonnes per year – the equivalent of taking 46,000 cars off the road each year.”

The Johnstown plant requires 20 million bushels of corn per year. Of that amount about one-third will be returned to the farmer as feed in the form of DDGs. GreenField offers local farmers the opportunity to sell their corn directly to the company and is posting bids on its website (www.greenfieldethanol.com) for corn delivered to the Johnstown plant. The plant has received 20,000 metric tonnes of local corn to date.

The Ontario Buy Direct Program, the first of its kind in Ontario for a commercial operation, allows Ontario producers exclusively to sell their corn directly to GreenField. The company offers producers several grain marketing alternatives to manage their risk, provide control over cash flow, potentially increase profitability and provide contract flexibility.

“GreenField celebrates this successful plant start-up along with its partners in the municipal, provincial and federal governments who supported this project from day one,” said Gallant. “We are proud to provide a much-needed new market for local corn farmers, economic growth in Eastern Ontario, and an environmentally responsible alternative to fossil fuels.”

Farmers wanting to sell their corn directly to GreenField’s Johnstown, Tiverton and Chatham plants through the Ontario Buy Direct Program (OBDP) may visit www.greenfieldethanol.com or call 1-888-471-3661.

GreenField Ethanol Inc. (www.greenfieldethanol.com) is Canada’s leading ethanol producer. The company produces 550 million litres a year of ethanol at its plants in Johnstown, Chatham and Tiverton, Ontario and Varennes, Quebec. Another plant is in development in Hensall, Ontario. GreenField is actively involved in the development of biochemical process technology to produce cellulosic ethanol at its research facilities in Chatham, Ontario. The company is also working with Enerkem Inc. to build thermochemical cellulosic ethanol plants. GreenField's ethanol is available at more than 1,300 gas stations across Canada. The federal government contributed $15 million toward the construction of this plant under the Ethanol Expansion Program.