The future of the shuttered Quad County Corn Processors ethanol plant near Galva will be decided through a sealed-bid auction, with offers due next week.
Maas Companies is conducting the lender-ordered auction after Lincoln Savings Bank obtained a foreclosure judgment of roughly $19 million against Quad County. The auction includes the 35-million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant and grain storage facility south of Galva, along with several other properties.
Sealed bids are due by 4 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 29. Bidders can submit offers for individual properties or for the entire package.
The main plant site includes about 31 acres, the ethanol production equipment and rolling stock, and grain storage capacity of approximately 3.7 million bushels. A separate 34.62-acre parcel along U.S. Highway 20 is also being offered.
The auction also includes Quad County’s roughly 9,454-square-foot corporate office building in downtown Galva and a two-acre transload rail facility in Cherokee.
Maas Companies says the rail facility includes loading equipment, an office and garage, but does not include the land under the adjacent rail spur.
Potential buyers have been given opportunities to inspect the properties, with additional inspection dates scheduled this Thursday and Friday.
The auction comes after Quad County’s ethanol plant was idled in December 2024 following a mechanical failure. The company later filed a notice affecting 41 workers, with layoffs taking effect in February 2025.
Quad County was founded in 2000 by six northwest Iowa investors, and the plant began producing ethanol in 2002. The facility eventually expanded to approximately 35 million gallons of annual capacity and became known for its production of cellulosic ethanol from corn kernel fiber.
The company has also faced regulatory and financial challenges. In 2022, the EPA and U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement requiring Quad County to retire more than 438,000 renewable fuel credits and pay a $320,000 civil penalty over alleged Renewable Fuel Standard violations.
