Pratt ? A short-lived Kansas ethanol plan that a few years ago was expected to become the biggest in the state has been purchased by a national agricultural marketing firm based in Omaha, Neb.

The Scoular Company said it hopes to have the 55-million-gallon plant in Pratt operating by the third or fourth quarter this year after extensive renovation of the former Gateway Ethanol plant.

The plant opened in August 2007 and began some ethanol production in October of that year. But it never operated commercially and was shut down in December 2007 after an ice storm froze and heavily damaged its equipment.

The $100 million plant filed a $1.1 million freeze damage claim in January 2008 but was shut down again in late February, blaming the price of corn. A Minneapolis-based investment bank that held more than $63 million in loans on the plant filed for foreclosure in April 2008, but the plant didn’t go up for sale until last summer because of a protracted legal battle.

The Hutchinson News reports that Scoular officials anticipate eventually employing up to 40 people there.

Scoular, which specializes in grain marketing, is “in discussions with companies interested in operating the plant in partnership with Scoular,” the company said in a news release.

In addition to buying the plant, the Scoular Company also purchased an adjoining 1.8-million-barrel shuttle train facility on the Union Pacific Railroad. The facility is capable of loading 100-car shuttle trains of grain, dried distillers grains and ethanol.

“Scoular is pleased to have taken yet another step to serve grain producers and end-users in this area as well as to further expand our presences in the renewable fuels market,” Scoular Chief Executive Officer Chuck Elsea said.

Elsea said the company expects the grain-handling portion of the facility to be ready to receive grain by April 1, and the ethanol plant operational by fall.

“It’s economically feasible to run this plant,” he said, “and that’s what we want to do.”

The company employs 625 people nationwide and last year had sales of $3.5 billion. Forbes magazine ranked it as the 89th largest privately held corporation in the U.S.

With the Pratt acquisition, Scoular owns eight facilities in Kansas, including shuttle train loading facilities in Coolidge, Downs, Salina and Wellington, and employs more than 150 people in the state.