Cargill Expands Eddyville Plant to Produce a Bio-Based Alternative to Petroleum Materials

By Cami Koons

EDDYVILLE – Iowa grown corn will soon end up in apparel like Spanx, and other products typically made with petroleum-based components, following the opening of a new processing facility. 

Qore, the joint venture between Minnesota-based Cargill and Germany-based HELM AG, celebrated the opening of the $300 million facility Tuesday, and future growth it represents. 

The facility will take sustainably grown corn from within the area, then grind it and process it into QIRA, which the company said is an “identical replacement” of 1,4-butanediol, a chemical component used to manufacture various polymers. 

Officials with Qore and the partnering companies said the venture is a response to consumer demand for more sustainably produced products, but will also stoke the Iowa corn market and local economy, and pave the way for future partnerships to for bio-based alternatives to petroleum-derived products. 

Jon Veldhouse, CEO of Qore, said Tuesday the project “connects” a “global challenge” with the natural process of corn absorbing CO2 and turning light into plant energy. 

“It proves that scalable solutions can come from the ground up, that innovation can start with corn, that the products we use every day in fashion, footwear, personal care, electronics, automotive — they can be more responsible and serve a louder purpose,” Veldhouse said. 

Extending the Life of Petroleum Via Bio-Based Solutions

Qore has already partnered with a number of brands, the first of which was Lycra, the original makers of Spandex materials. 

Gary Smith, Lycra Company’s CEO, said with QIRA, he can provide a high level of product credibility and show consumers exactly where the corn in their yoga pants was grown.

But, he said the Qore partnership represents more than just a “sustainable story” he can communicate to consumers. 

“It’s about a future where you don’t have to compromise on the standard of living that we’ve all come to know,” Smith said. “The ability to actually have renewable inputs that replace petrochemicals is huge.” 

Smith said he hopes this is “the first step” in a future with many QIRA facilities around the world. 

“It’s not if, it’s when fossil fuels run out,” Smith said. “We’ve done wonderful things of extending — fracking, horizontal drilling, shale oil, whatever — but there’s only so many dead dinosaurs in the ground.” 

At full capacity, the Eddyville plant will have an annual demand of 100 million bushels of corn.

Steve Kuiper, an Iowa corn farmer growing for the facility, said that capacity would take all of his corn “plus a whole lot of other folks.’”

Plus, that corn would be sold at a premium since QIRA needs to be made with corn grown under regenerative farming practices, like cover cropping and reduced tillage. 

Kuiper said he was already following these practices, but now that he has a designated market for his corn, it has made him “more mindful” of the practices. 

Corn farmers have had low market prices the past several years and are looking for new markets that will give them a higher price per bushel, or to grow the market through things like Sustainable Aviation Fuel. 

Kuiper said the QIRA market doesn’t fill the same gap as something like sustainable aviation fuel would, but he said “biochemistry is on everybody’s minds” and he said farmers, and consumers, need to advocate for more biochemical solutions. 

“Those are direct replacements for petroleum products,” Kuiper said. “It’s going to do a couple of things – it’s better for the environment, but it’s also going to extend the life of petroleum.” 

Axel Viering, an executive board member of the German chemical company Helm, said the partnership with Cargill and Helm represents a meeting of agriculture and chemicals. 

“The vision of Qore is to produce and market something very special,” Viering said. “QIRA is the purest, the finest, the most sustainable product in its product category, and the goal is to position Qore as a lighthouse asset, globally, for sustainable solutions.” 

Economic Development 

The plant in Eddyville is poised to produce 66,000 metric tons of QIRA annually, but the partners said they all hope demand for the product expands and more facilities will be needed. 

Rep. Hans Wilz, R-Ottumwa, attended the ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday and said he has driven past the Cargill plant, which opened 40 years ago in Eddyville, countless times and had friends who worked there. He said the Qore expansion is a reminder that the plant has a “much bigger footprint than most people understand.”

“It’s farmers growing corn, it’s people having jobs, but it’s also sustainability and a cleaner way to do things — even in our clothing now,” Wilz said. “…it’s cool to see how we fit in the process.” 

Colleen May, president at Cargill’s Bioindustrial Group, said it’s difficult to calculate the economic impact of the plant because there are many connected supply chains. 

During the Trump administration, there has been a shift away from sustainable projects, like Climate Smart agriculture and other project started by the Biden administration, in favor of promoting increased domestic production of fossil fuels. 

May said in her conversations about Qore at the federal level, this change in mindset hasn’t been an issue. She said most Congress members agree on projects that support rural America. 

“We’re emphasizing today more about economic development, particularly in the Midwest and that has been very very well received,” May said. 

She said biosolutions represent an alternative for “conscious consumers” but there is “not enough agriculture to completely replace” petrochemicals, so the two will continue to coexist. 

May said now that the plant is up and running they have been able to send samples to “dozens and dozens” of customers who are interested in using QIRA and she expects more brands will use the material. 

Once the products hit the shelves, customers will see QIRA branding to identify it in stores. 

“It’s like the Intel inside,” May said. “That’s how we think of it.”

This story has been updated to make a clarification.

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