Fort Dodge 
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Overview
Valero Renewables-Fort Dodge is located near Fort Dodge, Iowa, just less than 100 miles northwest of Des Moines. The bio-refinery sits on 270 acres and started ethanol production in October 2005. The facility uses a dry-grind production method and state-of-the-art technology to maintain industry-leading standards in production, safety, product quality and environmental stewardship. The Fort Dodge plant annually processes nearly 43 million bushels of corn into 120 million gallons of denatured ethanol and 400,000 tons of distillers grains co-products. The bio-refinery has a nameplate capacity of 110 million gallons of ethanol per year and employs approximately 60 full-time personnel.
 
The entire kernel of corn is converted to ethanol or distillers grains. Ethanol is an environmentally friendly, high-octane renewable fuel produced by fermenting converted corn starch with yeast. It is used as a blending agent with gasoline. Distillers grains are the co-product left after the ethanol is removed from fermented corn mash, and are sold as a valuable livestock feed. Distillers grains are high in protein, fat, vitamins and minerals, making an excellent feed supplement for beef and dairy cattle, swine and poultry. The Fort Dodge plant markets both dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) and modified (or wet) distillers grains with solubles (MDGS).
 
The plant timeline:
  • January 2003 – Community leaders began working on plans for the plant
  • May 2004 – Announced purchase of land in Webster County near Fort Dodge
  • July 2004 – Construction began
  • September 2004 – Groundbreaking celebrated
  • September 2005 – Operations began
  • December 2005 – Grand opening celebrated
  • April 2009 – Valero Renewables closed on purchase of the plant from VeraSun Energy
Awards & Honors
  • Earned Outstanding Newcomer Philanthropy Award from the Fort Dodge Community Foundation and United Way, for its generous support of the annual United Way campaign
  • Earned a safety award for Incident Rate Excellence from the Iowa-Illinois Safety Council, a chapter of the National Safety Council, for demonstrating outstanding achievement in accident prevention during 2010 with an incident rate lower than the national average for the industry
  • Went more than 12 months without an OSHA-recordable injury, as of end of 2010
Community Activity
  • Employees pledged more than $16,000 to United Way, with company match projected to bring total plant contribution to approximately $24,000 for 2011
  • Distributed $25,000 to area children’s charities from the Valero Texas Open and Benefit for Children Golf Classic, including Domestic/Sexual Assault Outreach Center, Youth Shelter Care of North Central Iowa, and Children and Families of Iowa
  • Held several volunteer events in 2010, logging more than 550 employee and family hours
  • Dam-to-Dam River Cleanup – Webster County Conservation Board; the Fort Dodge Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department; and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources
  • Relay For Life – American Cancer Society
  • Habitat For Humanity
  • Community Kids’ Fest
  • Adopt-A-Highway
  • Lord’s Cupboard Food Drive
  • Salvation Army
  • Honor Flight Network
Work at this location.
Receive daily bids via e-mail.
Contact Us
Valero Renewables-Fort Dodge
1930 Hayes Avenue
Fort Dodge, Iowa  50501
Send Email(515) 955-5000(877) 694-CORN (2676), toll-free (515) 955-5050
To Purchase Distillers Grains
Michael Lash
Distillers Grain Sales Rep (Local Truck Sales)
Send Email(515) 955-5018
Allan Assmann
Manager-Distillers Grain Sales (Bulk Rail Sales)
Send Email(402) 727-5300