GRAFTON (AP) - An ethanol plant here should be open again by early May, its manager says.

The Alchem Ltd. plant produces more than 10 million gallons of ethanol a year. Manager Kevin Rauser said he expects production to be nearly 11 million gallons a year after upgrades and cleaning.

Rauser said the Grafton plant is expected to reopen by late April or early May after getting approval from its owners. He expects all but four or five of the plant's 32 workers will return.

"It's a decision that's been made by the Newmans that we should cut back on our work force," said Rauser, who is one of four employees retained to work on maintenance at the plant. "It has to do with profitability, making it feasible to run."

The Alchem ethanol plant, which opened in 1983, suspended operations in October. Harold Newman, Alchem's president, attributed the temporary closure to the high cost of corn and a low sales price for ethanol. He predicted the plant would start up again when market conditions improved.

North Dakota's average ethanol rack prices, or the price charged at a distribution terminal's loading rack when tanker trucks take on fuel loads, have increased from an average of about $1.70 a gallon when Newman announced the plant would shut down, to roughly $2 a gallon today, according to the DTN Ethanol Center.

"It's starting to become more feasible," Rauser said. "It's close enough now where we can take that chance."

Rauser said the Grafton plant will reopen after a pollution-control project and other cleanup tasks are finished.

Some of the laid-off workers have taken other jobs, Rauser said. But he expects about 80 percent of the plant's employees to return to work.

Rauser said the Grafton plant is a "dinosaur" compared with the larger ethanol plants being built today. But with proper maintenance, he said, it should remain profitable.