Chief Ethanol Fuels, the state's first commercial ethanol manufacturer, shipped the one billionth gallon produced at its Hastings plant in mid-February.
One of the first fuel ethanol plants in the U.S., Chief opened in 1984 with the capacity to produce 10 million gallons annually.
They are expected to produce nearly 70 million gallons in 2011.
Nebraska is home to 25 ethanol plants that produce 2 billion gallons annually and employ 1,300 people.
Chief is a major grain buyer in the state, providing a market for 25 million bushels of corn annually — about 80 percent of the crop grown in Adams County, where the facility is located.
In addition to fuel ethanol, the plant also markets high protein distillers grains to local livestock feeders. More than one-third of the corn processed in the plant is returned to the feed sector in the form of distillers grain.
