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Empyreal 75 in its raw state on the production line. Jered Anderson, the project and optimisation manager at the plant shows the production process.
Cargill’s Blair plant is sited on 250ha in an attractive, farming environment with hardly another building in sight. We were hosted around the plant, referred to as a ‘campus’, by the company’s Product Line team headed by Jered Anderson, who has overall responsibility for the production of ‘Empyreal 75’. Included in our group were Claudio Paredes, global aquaculture sales director, Michael Klapperich, director of sales in North America and responsible for Empyreal product distribution and Eric Bell, AVP product line manager from Cargill Starches and Sweeteners North America. ‘Empyreal 75’ is one of many products from this plant, with additional products produced by a number of independent and joint-venture companies operating from the ‘campus’ site, and
Trucks transport huge quantities of corn from the local area to supply Cargill’s Blair production plant to produce a revolutionary highprotein Empyreal protein.
utilising the infrastructure and the various products of the corn milling process. Plant construction started in 1992 and started grinding corn in 1995. With over a billion dollars invested in this site so far, it is one of Cargill’s largest investments, which has had various expansions over the past 20 years. Each day the plant consumes thousands of tonnes of corn to manufacture various products. It operates 24-hours per day for 365 days a year. It employs 550 permanent staff and almost 400 on-site contractors. It has a dedicated team of pipe fitters, electricians and mechanics and other services contracted to maintain production and resolve issues should they arise.
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