Michigan Milk Producers Association Project Turns Dairy Byproduct Into Ethanol for Sustainable Aviation Fuel
Why It MattersAgricultural waste streams are becoming a feedstock for aviation biofuel, tying rural dairy cooperatives into the supply chain that low-carbon fuel targets depend on.
The Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) is commissioning a project with DDBiofuel to convert a dairy processing byproduct into ethanol suited to sustainable aviation fuel production. The cooperative markets and processes milk on behalf of member dairy farmers in Michigan and surrounding states, and several large farms in the Cadillac area are among its members.
Amy Gingrich, operator of Gingrich Meadows and the Cadillac representative on the MMPA board of directors, said ethanol production and testing is underway at the Dairy Distillery Alliance processing plant in Constantine, 30 miles south of Kalamazoo. She said the plant was licensed to sell a few weeks earlier. Constantine is also home to an MMPA-owned ultrafiltered milk plant. Filtering dairy to make high-protein, low-fat milk produces a byproduct called permeate, which is mostly water and sugar. Permeate was previously trucked to the city's wastewater treatment plant for disposal, at a cost to the cooperative. It is now distilled into alcohol and sold, which Gingrich said removes the disposal expense and creates ethanol biofuel to sell, making farmers somewhat more money.
DDBiofuel is an arm of Ontario-based Dairy Distillery, which is also behind the Vodkow vodka brand. Dairy Distillery entered an alliance with MMPA to produce low-carbon ethanol for sustainable aviation fuel, and broke ground on the $41 million Constantine plant in 2024. The project is supported by state financial incentives and the federal Inflation Reduction Act. In 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy created what is now called the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Initiative to meet carbon reduction goals while creating rural agriculture jobs. Gingrich said the project suits processors such as General Mills and Yoplait, which push producers to find environmentally friendly ways to improve efficiency. MMPA Communications Manager Emily Kittendorf-King confirmed the cooperative is commissioning the Dairy Distillery project but directed questions to two 2024 press releases on the project.
