RFA Ethanol Podcast

Alltech Founder Dr. Pearse Lyons

Chuck Zimmerman

Dr. Pearse LyonsThe founder of Alltech is Dr. Pearse Lyons. He just concluded a presentation to the IFAJ board meeting. I had a chance to interview him just before we got started. I knew right away he didn’t have a Kentucky accent (he’s Irish). He says he’s almost been in the United States as long as he lived in Ireland.

I started out asking Dr. Lyons to talk about his background and how and why he started Alltech. He says his brewing background is really what led him to doing the work that Alltech does today. In fact, he says things have come full circle since back in the early days he was focused on brewing and making alcohol which at the time was called gasahol. From there they’ve launched a whole line of products that are used as feed additives for animal health. Now they’re back to focusing on alcohol production.

In keeping with the theme of the Symposium here which is food, feed or fuel, he says they’re working on ways to improve the ethanol production process to not only generate more ethanol but to make better use of the feed stock being used to make it. They’re working very hard on the cellulosic ethanol production process since we have a limited supply of corn and a big ethanol production goal.

You can listen to my interview with Dr. Pearse Lyons here: alltech-symposium-07-lyons.mp3

Alltech 2007 International Feed Industry Symposium Photo Album

Agribusiness, Audio