Cargill, HELM to build $300 million facility in Eddyville

Cargill will work with Germany-based HELM to build a $300 million facility in southeastern Iowa for commercial-scale, renewable butanediol, the company announced Monday.

The joint venture in Eddyville, called Qore, will “help leading brands replace fossil-based chemistries with bio-based intermediates,” according to a news release.

The 1,4-butanediol, often referred to as BDO or BD, is “mainly used for the production of other organic chemicals” and is a neurotoxin, according to information from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Biotechnology Information.

It can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 93 percent compared to using “traditional fossil sources,” Cargill said.

Cargill plans to build the $300 million facility on its existing Eddyville campus and open it in 2024.

Cargill, which was considered the largest privately held company in the United States until 2020, has a presence in several Iowa cities, including Cedar Rapids, Mason City and Iowa Falls.

The company’s Diamond V subsidiary recently returned a $2 million state tax credit because it could not hire enough employees for a Cedar Rapids project.

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