Two Iowa retailers are each getting $125,000 in state funding to help finance installation of blender pumps that will dispense a higher concentration of ethanol and biodiesel. The Creston-based Farmers Cooperative will install two blender pumps in Mount Ayr.
“Last year…Farmers Cooperative Company constructed an ethanol-blending and biodiesel dispending facility at our Creston location. This became the first and remains to be the only location in Union County that offers higher blends than E10,” says Darin Schlapia, the coop’s manager. “The overwhelming response that we received in support of the Creston site made us realize that a similar site at our Mount Ayr location would serve an area that is also in need of higher ethanol and biodiesel blends.”
The ethanol dispenser will offer E10, E15, E30 and E85. Customers will also be able to get five different blends of biodiesel, as well as red dyed biodiesel that’s used in off-road farm vehicles.
“The center dispenser on the main fuel island will be ultra-high-speed, clear B5 biodiesel with a satellite to the east to fill large trucks with a rate of 60 gallons per minute,” Schlapia says.
Schlapia made his comments this morning during Governor Branstad’s weekly news conference, where the grants were announced.
The other $125,000 state grant went to the Oak Street Station in Inwood. Iowa State University researchers plan to monitor the two sites to gauge customer response.