LaHood announces Illinois plant conversion to produce much-needed hand sanitizer

U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-IL) on Monday announced a company partnership that will work to repurpose corn ethanol from renewable fuels into hand sanitizer at an Illinois plant.

Global Impact Innovation LLC will use portions of the Galva, Ill.-based Big River Resources plant to produce hand sanitizer from corn-based ethanol to help control the spread of COVID-19 and support communities dealing with supply shortages, according to the congressman’s office.

“As our nation confronts the coronavirus pandemic, we are seeing Americans rise to the occasion to support our communities,” said Rep. LaHood. “I am grateful to Global Impact Innovation and Big River Resources for their willingness to step up and lend a helping hand during this time of need.”

Big River Resources, which has long produced ethanol, needed a waiver from federal regulators to convert its plant from producing alcohol-based ethanol to other alcohol-based products.

Rep. LaHood worked with the Trump administration and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau under the U.S. Treasury Department to speedily get the waivers approved, his office said.

“Converting portions of the plant to produce hand sanitizer is a testament to midwestern ingenuity and could hold great potential for the ethanol industry into the future,” Rep. LaHood said. “I was happy to lend a hand to ensure they can begin production in the coming days.”

“This is a wonderful example of government moving quickly to help the private sector move forward with solutions to solving hand sanitizer supply shortages,” said Dr. Anil Oroskar, Dr. Asha Oroskar, and Paresh Ghelani, founders of Global Impact Innovation, in a joint statement.

Jim Leiting, chief executive officer of Big River Resources, also thanked legislators and local Galva City administrators “for their support in expediting the licensing and permitting process to allow this to happen in a timely manner.”

Global Impact Innovation is expected to begin hand sanitizer production at the Big River Resources plant this month, with an anticipated capacity of roughly 100,000-plus gallons per month.