By Sara StrongLoren Forrest, rural Luverne, pitched a business idea to the Economic Development Authority Tuesday.It’s still in the research phase, so the authority wouldn’t commit to any funding, but Forrest said he’ll eventually ask for $250,000 for a new corn-to-fuel plant.The complicated process is through catalytic conversion, rather than fermentation, as used in the current ethanol plant in Luverne.The process uses less corn and can use plant residue, stover or silage. Forrest said he believes a ton of corn could produce up to 291 gallons of ethanol.He would like to eventually form a co-op with a manager handling day-to-day operations.Forrest and a few associates are traveling to a similar plant in the south that uses wood for its base product to convert to energy. If, after visiting the inventor, the process can be done in Luverne, Forrest will try for a grant from the city.City Administrator Greg LaFond said he was respectfully skeptical of the process. "If this is projected to be as good as it is, why isn’t a company like Excel Energy interested?" LaFond said.The inventor hasn’t turned it over to the patent process for fear of copycat operations. LaFond wondered why he would turn the same information over to local people. Forrest said he won’t proceed unless it proves viable and they get detailed information.Forrest, himself, has spent three years studying the process, down to complicated chemistry and how a plant would be physically set up. He said that since it can use silage and other forms of "biomass," that it makes it a good idea. It could be used even in drought years if crops were poor.
