The $54 million Lake Erie Biofuels plant and an anaerobic digester that will produce biogas at the Fairview Swiss Cheese Plant in Mercer County were dedicated this week.

The Lake Erie Biofuels plant is located on part of the former International Paper Company property in Erie and it is expected to produce 45 million gallons of biofuels annually and employ 40 people once it’s fully operational.

The former brownfield site was reclaimed under Pennsylvania’s Land Recycling Program, which provides environmental cleanup standards for old industrial properties to be reused safely.

The Lake Erie Biofuels plant was awarded $625,000 last December through Pennsylvania’s Alternative Fuels Incentives Grant Program. The grant represents a 5-cents-per-gallon production credit and re-imbursement for up to 12.5 million gallons per year, which the company will receive for produced biodiesel that meets certified quality specifications.

The Fairview Swiss Cheese Plant soon will be partially powered with biogas made from its own waste products.

The $2.2 million project involves constructing an anaerobic digester that will use cheese whey from the plant and cone batter waste from the Joy Cone Co. to make 40 million cubic feet of biogas annually – the equivalent of 28 million cubic feet of natural gas.

The biogas will be used in a boiler to produce steam and electricity for processing milk into cheese that in turn will offset the purchase of fuel oil and electricity produced from fossil fuels. The wastewater from the digester will flow to a treatment facility where the solids will be removed and clean water discharged.

The project is a collaborative effort between the local county government, Fairview Swiss Cheese Plant, Joy Cone Co., and Penn State Cooperative Extension of Mercer County.

The group received funding through the Department of Agriculture's Machinery and Equipment Loan Fund, the Department of Environmental Protection's Energy Harvest Grant and USDA's 9006 Renewable Energy Grant, combined with private financing from John Koller & Son Inc.

NewsClips: Lake Erie Biofuels Launches Operation in $50 Million Plant

Ethanol-Based Fuel is Dud at Local Stations

10/12/2007