Bill Butler of NewFields, pictured in May 2023, points to a pair of huge storage sheds that were being emptied of pallets, boxes and other refuse left behind by the former operators of the AltEn ethanol plant. The facility is just north of Mead, west of Omaha. (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)
MEAD, Nebraska – The removal of a massive pile of contaminated waste grain from the AltEn ethanol plant is now projected to be completed by the end of 2025, officials doing the cleanup said Tuesday.
Representatives of the Facility Response Group said that after a yearlong “pilot project” to test how to remove the material, called “wet cake,” about one third of the estimated 150,000 tons of grain has been transported to a landfill near Omaha.
About 37,400 tons of wet cake were solidified and trucked to the Pheasant Point Landfill near Bennington this summer. So far, a total of 47,608 tons of wet cake – or 2,240 truckloads – have been hauled from the former AltEn ethanol plant as of Sept. 20.
“It’s been a busy summer of trucks hauling the wet cake off site and the FRG is encouraged by the work being done,” said Bill Butler, a senior engineer with NewFields, which is managing the cleanup for a group of seed corn companies that are funding the work.