Marquis Energy, LLC is an Illinois Limited Liability company operating a 110 million gallon per year ethanol production facility in Hennepin, IL.
Fagen, Inc., of Granite Falls, Minnesota was the design-builder for the plant. ICM, Inc. provided all process design and engineering services for the construction of the plant. ICM is based in Colwich, Kansas, and has more than 20 years of experience in ethanol plant design, engineering, and operation. Fagen and ICM have worked on 75 percent of the ethanol plants constructed in the U.S. during the past five years.
The plant uses approximately 40 million bushels of corn and produces approximately 338,000 tons dried distillers grains with solubles or DDGS. Close to 50 full-time employees are needed to operate the facility.
Darrell "Mark" Marquis is the President of Marquis Inc. and was a co-founder of the company in 1976. He has led Marquis Inc.'s growth, including the development and operation of two country grain elevators, a retail fertilizer and chemical plant and a trucking company. Marquis built two wholesale barge dock locations including a four million gallon automated nitrogen terminal and a 15,000 ton dry fertilizer terminal, in addition to operating a fleet of barges and a tugboat on the Illinois River. Mark is a helicopter flight instructor and an airplane pilot.
Tom grew up on a farm near Buda, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science degree in agriculture. Upon graduation, he worked for the United States Department of Agriculture in the Madison, Wisconsin office. In 1979, Tom returned to the Bureau County area and has been a partner with Mark Marquis and Denny Throneburg since that time. As partner of Marquis Inc., Tom led the development of the agronomy department, including the wholesale and retail Ag product marketing.
Denny was raised on a farm near Assumption, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1973 with a Bachelor's degree in math education. After graduation he taught junior high math in Quincy, Illinois from 1973-1976, and one year at Western junior high school in Sheffield, Illinois. In the summer of 1977, he joined Marquis Grain in accounting and grain merchandising.
Lester's background includes 20 years experience in commercial and industrial construction. He owned and operated an electrical construction company providing design, construction, and implementation of electrical systems for factories, commercial facilities and government projects. In May of 2001, Lester joined Marquis Inc. to manage the Hennepin operations. He managed the operation of two river terminals, which included the delivery and storage of liquid nitrogen and dry fertilizer, as well as the transfer of steel coils for the Hennepin steel plant. Lester has also managed a harbor fleeting service and tugboat operation. He is a member of the Hennepin Business & Betterment Association and Vice-Chairman of the Putnam County Local Emergency Planning Committee.
Jason is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Chemistry and a minor in education. Jason served as an operator for a short time after joining the team at Marquis in May of 2008 before moving into his current role as Marquis Energy, LLC's Production Manager.
