Building for Food and Fuel
Summary
Meanwhile, additions were made to transition to a new production model and fulfill Summit’s vision to meet a need in the food industry for domestic supply of vital wheat gluten, while producing ethanol with an even lower CI score. “Based on the initial conversations that we’ve had with both bakeries and pet food customers, they are really eager to see a new producer of vital wheat gluten here in North America, because continuing to import 80 percent of that product long term is, I don’t think, a sustainable outcome.” The “thesis” of what Amber Wave is all about is something that Kirchhoff and the rest of Summit leadership believed in for several years before acquiring the Prairie Horizons Agri-Energy plant. “We utilized this opportunity to upgrade existing equipment and technology and install the necessary pieces to handle the wheat starch, including additional beer well capacity, a third effect evaporation, and mixer system for our wet cake to evenly distribute the midds in with the syrups,” Adams says. Summit’s vision for Amber Wave is to create its first world-class food ingredient business with a renewable energy arm that is “best in class” in everything that it does, including low carbon scores and production quality, Cimorelli explains. This lower CI score was attractive three to four years ago, when the idea for the project first came about, but the growing low carbon fuel markets throughout U.S. and Canada, as well as policy developments like the Inflation Reduction Act, have increased Kirchhoff’s belief in the value of what the company is doing.