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Gevo hires, resumes production

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Luverne plant completes retrofit during shutdown, will hire 11 more
By
Mavis Fodness

A job fair Friday and Saturday is expected to fill 11 positions still open at the local Agri-Energy plant in Luverne.
Owner Gevo Inc. announced in March production would resume May 1; however, fewer than half of the needed 20 employees were hired at that time.
The coronavirus pandemic that stopped production in early 2020 is leading to employee shortages.
“We are having trouble finding people,” said Agri-Energy plant manager Phil Cherry.
After hiring earlier this year, the plant resumed production of isobutanol  in late July.
The Luverne plant stopped production in March 2020 and officials laid off 27 employees due to the pandemic’s negative effects on market prices.
During the shutdown Gevo engineers finished retrofitting the plant from ethanol to producing a jet fuel-grade renewable isobutanol from corn.
Gevo is also continuing to test the replacement of fossil fuel-based energy sources at the Luverne plant under its green energy plan.
Prior to Luverne stopping production in March 2020, two 2.5-megawatt wind turbines came online to provide renewable electrical energy to the plant.
Engineers are now moving to the next phase of the energy plan to renewable natural gas from dairy cows to lessen the plant’s dependence on natural gas derived from fossil fuels. Luverne is still seen as the test facility.
More employees are needed to bring the Luverne plant back to a 24/7 production schedule.
The local job fair will take place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Big Top Tent Rentals at 321 W. Hatting St. in Luverne.
Cherry said production workers are sought for hourly wages ranging from $18 to $23 per hour, depending on qualifications.
The goal is to have 30 full-time employees at the Luverne facility.
 
Luverne plant test zone for larger facility
Gevo is currently planning a state-of-the-art production facility in Lake Preston, South Dakota.
The 240-acre plant is expected to be in production in 2024 using the renewable energy technology tested at the Luverne facility.
Announcement of Gevo’s plans were made in an Aug. 4 business update on the Net-Zero 1 project in South Dakota.
“I like the option of being able to test unit operations that could help optimize and train people for Net-Zero 1 to start up smoothly,” said Gevo CEO Patrick Gruber.
“And the best way to do that is to do a good job training our people. I expect Luverne to provide some of that experience.”

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