For Immediate Release
For More Information Contact:
Tom Koob, Construction Manager
HCI Construction
1505 Stable Drive
South Sioux City, NE 68776
(402) 494-0222
HCI Construction at the Center of Bison Renewable Energy Project
WINNEBAGO, Nebraska -- HCI Construction, a subsidiary of Ho-Chunk, Inc., is at the center of plans to build one of the world’s largest methane-producing plants in rural Sioux County in northwest Iowa beginning in September.
According to Tom Koob, Construction Manager for HCI Construction, the $25 million plant is being constructed for Bison Renewable Energy, LLC, a Minneapolis biogas company, and will use millions of gallons of manure and other organic waste material to produce methane gas, as well as a higher quality manure. The plant will be unique in the United States, and is the first of seven or eight that Bison Renewable Energy will build across the country.
HCI Construction will serve as the General Contractor for the Bison Renewable Energy project and will perform and oversee the project which will include site work, underground utilities, concrete paving, buildings, digester tanks, electrical, and mechanical work. “The HCI contract for the project is approximately $12 million with the possibility of 16 other sites mirrored to this one,” said Tom Koob, Construction Manager for HCI Construction.
“We are very proud that HCI Construction has been selected to play such an important role in this landmark project. It is a tremendous opportunity for our company to demonstrate, not only our excellent craftsmanship in successfully completing a
challenging construction project, but also to showcase our ability to provide cost-effective, project management,” Koob said.
Plans for the Bison Renewable facility call for initial construction of 11 1-million gallon tanks, or biogas regional anaerobic digesters (BRADs), that will take 500,000 gallons of cow, hog, chicken and other animal waste along with other animal fats or vegetable waste from food processing and turn it into pipeline ready methane gas. Starting next June, the facility will grow to 22 BRADs with an additional investment of $7 million. The plant will employ technology that uses bacteria to break down the manure into commercially usable gas. This technology has been widely used in Europe for about 18 years, but the largest plants there have just seven or eight comparable tanks.
“Although the methane gas could be used to produce electricity, Bison Renewable will scrub out the impurities and then pump the gas into the nearby Northern Natural Gas pipeline,” said Koob. The methane gas, which is odorless, will blend readily with the natural gas and meet or exceed its BTU levels. The company expects to use the waste from about 1.6 million hogs per year and will produce about 5 billion cubic feet of biogas in its second year. “That’s enough gas to heat about 70,000 homes for an entire heating season,” said Koob
The other byproduct is an inorganic manure residue that can be spread as fertilizer. It is superior to raw manure because its phosphorus and nitrate levels can be quantified. The inorganic product has much less odor and is taken up faster by plants. The crops grow better and the product is not as readily washed into streams.
The Bison Energy project will be constructed on forty acres of farmland just north of Sioux Center, Iowa. “The original project will utilize approximately 21 acres, with the rest to be used in phases 2, 3 and 4,” said Koob.
HCI Construction offices are located in South Sioux City, Nebraska, with corporate headquarters in Winnebago, Nebraska and a federal contracts office in Bellevue, Nebraska. Using the latest management tools, HCI Construction provides general contracting and construction management services, as well as coordination of various trade subcontractors to assure that project goals are met.
HCI Construction is one of seventeen subsidiaries of Ho-Chunk, Inc., the economic development corporation of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, whose mission is to develop long-term economic growth for the Tribe through the creation of business enterprises and jobs. The corporation employs over 500 persons in eight states and three foreign countries.
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