Sep. 7--A new ethanol production plant under construction in Madison is in line to open later this year, but another in town and one that had been planned nearby in Granite City never got off the ground.

The birth and rise of the metro-east's ethanol industry is much like the tale of projects in these two cities: Not all have succeeded.

Meanwhile, the Center Ethanol Co. located outside Sauget remains the only private ethanol plant currently in production in metro-east, and the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center built with $14 million in federal money and $6 million from the state of Illinois operates on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Abengoa Bioenergy Corp. in Chesterfield, Mo., has been building an ethanol production plant at the River's Edge business park in Madison and should open this fall.

ABG North America, a Canadian company, also was going to build an ethanol plant at the business park but pulled out.

A third company, Sioux Falls, S.D.-based VeraSun Energy Corp., filed for bankruptcy last year before it could build an ethanol plant off Interstate 270 in Granite City. On Thursday, an auction house will be taking bids and selling parcels of a 380-acre tract in Granite City that was purchased for ethanol production. The bankrupt company also is auctioning off 1,600 acres of Illinois farmland it had initially purchased to support its ethanol-related businesses, said Carl Carter, of Schrader Real Estate and Auction Co. of Columbia City, Ind.

"VeraSun is in Chapter 11, and they are really trying to sell these away so they can get the best value they can for their shareholders," Carter said.

Abengoa's new plant under construction in Madison will have a capacity of 88 million gallons --one of the larger-scale ethanol operations in the country. Executive Vice President Chris Standlee said most of the estimated 60 employees who will run the operation have been hired.

"Folks are on site, and the plant is coming along as anticipated," Standlee said. "All of our people are there and ready to assume the responsibilities to operate the plant as soon as it starts up."

Center Ethanol in Sauget was the first to come on line when operations began in April 2008. The plant produces 54 million gallons of fuel annually. Aside from replacing one of the tanks that failed last New Year's Eve, company president Barry Frazier said production has been running at 100 percent.

Frazier also said the market has improved a bit in terms of ethanol margins.