ICM has signed a design-build agreement with Summit Sustainable Ingredients, an affiliate of Summit Agricultural Group to develop a wheat protein (vital wheat gluten) ingredients production facility in Phillipsburg, Kan. The new plant will be located next to Prairie Horizon Agri-Energy, a biorefinery acquired by Summit earlier this year.

After recognizing that wheat protein as an essential ingredient is in short supply and validating the current need for sustainable and nutritious ingredients, Summit has committed to this new project. "Building this new facility will close the gap between the supply and demand of high-quality wheat protein ingredients and reduce our reliance on imports," said Bruce Rastetter, Chief Executive Officer of Summit Agricultural Group. "We chose ICM as a strategic partner because of their best-in-class expertise when it comes to integrating process technologies into a renewable fuel plant and superior capability for optimizing plant efficiency."  

ICM and Summit have selected Flottweg to provide the gluten extraction process, who is a longtime collaborator in the biofuel and food industries. Flottweg is a manufacturer of efficient liquid-solid separation technologies. Working alongside ICM, Flottweg will help the new plant achieve the highest quality protein extraction.

"This project represents an exciting milestone for us," said Dan Ellis, President of Flottweg Americas. "We've worked on several wheat protein plants in Europe and Australia, but this will be the first one in North America. That said, it won't be our first collaboration with ICM, a trusted and long-time partner in the biofuel industry."

The plant will be approximately twice the size of the next largest wheat protein plant in North America. The wheat protein will be sold into the food, pet food, and specialty feed markets. The residual starch generated from processing wheat will be converted into a low-carbon, premium renewable biofuel amounting to 50 million gallons per year.

"Everyone on this team shares a commitment to designing and implementing solutions for high-quality ingredients and low-carbon biofuel production" said Dave VanderGriend, CEO of ICM. "We're all very excited about using our expertise to retrofit the Prairie Horizon plant and integrate it with the new wheat facility in a way that makes a significant positive impact environmentally as well as economically."

Construction for the new facility is expected to be finished by summer of 2023. Upon completion, the site will be the largest producer of vital wheat gluten in North America.

Established in 1995 and headquartered in Colwich, Kansas, with a regional office in Brazil, ICM provides innovative technologies, solutions, and services to sustain agriculture and to advance renewable energy, including ethanol and feed technologies that will increase the supply of world protein.

 Summit Agricultural Group is a diversified agribusiness operator and investment manager with operations in the U.S. and Brazil. Summit deploys capital across the agricultural supply chain with a particular focus at the intersection of agriculture and renewable energy.

SOURCE: ICM