North Dakota ethanol plant dramatically reduces aquifer usage

In North Dakota, the Spiritwood Ethanol plant has reduced its projected freshwater needs from the Spiritwood aquifer to 140,000 gallons per day. The remainder would come primarily from wastewater recovered from a nearby Cargill malt plant, which uses 4 million gallons per day from the acquifer.

Ethanol projects have run into increasing questions in the US and India over water usage as climate change and population increase creates the potential for water shortages. The innovative Tharaldson Ethanol project near Casselton, North Dakota will use 1 million gallons of treated wastewater from Fargo per day, of which 400,000 will be returned to the city. The City of Fargo typically treats 12 million gallons of wastewater per day which is released into the Red River after processing.

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