BLAIR, Neb. — He operates 90,000 feet of hissing pipes and dozens of enormous churning vats -- an industrial jungle with a single, remarkable purpose: "Essentially," plant manager Bill Suehr says, "we've got corn coming in at one end and plastic coming out the other."
In a hot, noisy factory that smells of Frosted Flakes, yeast and wet farm animals, agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. has set out to lead a new industrial revolution -- one fed by the green fields of the Midwest rather than the oil fields of the Middle East.
Sprawled across a square mile of prairie, a series of automated assembly lines turns raw corn kernels first into sugary syrup and then into white pellets that can be spun into silky fabric or molded into clear, tough plastic.
The end products -- which include T-shirts, forks and coffins -- look, feel and perform like traditional polyester and plastic made from a petroleum base. But the manufacturing process consumes 50% less fossil fuel, even after accounting for the fuel needed to plant and harvest the corn.
With oil prices near $60 a barrel, goods made from grain also compare favorably on price. So chemists and engineers are racing to figure out how to substitute Iowa's bounty for Iraq's. The goal: to use crops, weeds and even animal waste in place of the petroleum that fuels much of American manufacturing.
The Energy Department is so enthusiastic that it is aiming to convert 25% of chemical manufacturing to an agricultural base by 2030.
Cargill is the first to commercialize the technology, producing 300,000 pounds of pellets a day -- but its rivals are not far behind.
DuPont Co., which invented polyester and nylon, has its own corn-based fabric in the works.
An Arkansas firm called BioBased Technologies just opened a factory that uses soy instead of petroleum to make polyurethane for use in seat cushions, shoe soles and spray-foam insulation.
The clothing firm Of the Earth, based in Oregon, sells T-shirts and yoga pants made from soy fiber.
University professors across the Midwest are turning their labs into miniature bio-factories, transforming soybean oil into mattresses and chicken feathers into golf tees -- even, if all goes well, corn into cellphones. One professor sponsors an annual soybean technology contest; past winners have turned beans into ski wax, candles and nail polish remover.
