Tech Pushes US Ethanol Plant Past 100M Gallon Mark

A US Midwestern facility triples output using process engineering, not new equipment

20 Mar 2026

A standard US ethanol plant has tripled its annual output without replacing a single distillation column, marking the first time any facility of its common North American design has crossed the 100-million-gallon threshold while retaining its original core equipment.

RCM Technologies announced on March 10, 2026 the completion of its first NEXT (New Ethanol eXpansion Technology) project, scaling a 40-million-gallon-per-year facility to 105 million gallons annually.

The significance extends well beyond one plant. More than a hundred US ethanol facilities share the same foundational design, and all have faced the same production ceiling. Breaking through it previously required costly rebuilds and parallel column installations.

NEXT was developed by Thermal Kinetics, a division of RCM Technologies. The programme applies process optimisation methods adapted from petroleum refining: precision hydraulic analysis, targeted equipment upgrades, and system redesign across distillation, dehydration, and evaporation. The result is unlocked capacity within the plant's existing footprint, requiring no greenfield investment.

Cost efficiency is central to the appeal. Plants can expand during short planned maintenance shutdowns with minimal production disruption, producing more ethanol at a lower cost per gallon. That positions them more competitively against renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel in a crowded clean fuels market.

Several additional NEXT projects are now under way across North America. For US ethanol producers navigating a market that demands both volume and efficiency, the first deployment has validated the model. The industry ceiling has been raised.