General Mills to power Fridley plant with oat leftovers

TwinCities.com (Pioneer Press)
By Leslie Brooks Suzukamo
Updated: 04/07/2010 10:02:40 PM CDT

General Mills has used oats for its high-energy cereal Cheerios for nearly 70 years, but the food giant is now preparing to put the grain to work as a source of energy for itself.

Construction is under way this spring on a biomass steam boiler at the Golden Valley-based company's milling plant in Fridley, where it produces oat flour for Cheerios, Lucky Charms and other cereals.

The boiler, scheduled to go online early next year, will burn oat hulls left over from the milling process. It replaces natural-gas boilers, making the mill partially self-sustaining, said John Hellwig, the project's manager.

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