|
Latest
News
June 17, 2009 (from earth2tech.com)
Call it ethanol-on-the-cob. Corn ethanol giant Poet announced plans today to power its cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, with methane derived from corn cobs, rather than natural gas. Never before have corn cobs been used as a feedstock in this way, Poet CEO Jeff Broin said today at a press conference held at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo.
With the launch of a new division dubbed Poet Biomass, which Broin explained will manage the corn cob supply chain, Poet has also just kicked off a new effort to identify new feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol, and reiterated its plans to start commercial-scale production (25 million gallons per year) of the fuel in 2011. New feedstocks would be an interesting development for Poet, as the company has a long history of producing corn-based ethanol and has touted its corn connection as a competitive advantage.
Eventually, Broin said, the company aims to collect all the corn cobs needed to power the plant (as well as a grain-based ethanol factory) from within a 20-mile radius of the facility, thereby limiting emissions and costs associated with shipping. After the corn cobs - instead of corn starch - are used to make ethanol, liquid waste from the process will go into an anaerobic digester like the one Poet has just installed at its pilot plant in Scotland, S.D., according to a release from the company.
Poet Biomass and the new corn cob fuel effort represents Poet's latest move to respond to a basic industry reality. As Broin said this morning, "This is an industry that never holds still." Or, as we've put it before, when your core business is making ethanol from corn, you've got to evolve.
At this point, the ethanol industry is one that doesn't go too long between bankruptcies, thanks to a glut of ethanol, lack of financing for new projects, corn prices that shot sky high last year and a growing body of research that says corn ethanol won't make much of a dent in greenhouse gas emissions. Most recently, the EPA has cited an estimate that biofuels only reduce emissions by about 16 percent compared with fossil fuels.
Today's move is an incremental one, however. Broin said corn cobs can produce only up to 5 billion gallons of fuel per year, and the Emmetsburg cellulosic ethanol plant is supposed to produce about 25 million gallons per year. By comparison, Poet says it produces some 1.54 billion gallons of ethanol each year at 26 facilities nationwide.
-----------------------------
March 11, 2009
A $14.75 million contract between Poet LLC and the state of Iowa has been approved by the Iowa Power Fund Board. The contract finalizes the partnership to develop a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Iowa.
"This is an important step in advancing Iowa's strength in the biofuels industry through second-generation biofuels development, while spurring economic development," said Roya Stanley, director of the Iowa Office of Energy Independence. "This partnership with Poet demonstrates our commitment to helping Iowa chart its own course to achieve energy independence."
Project LIBERTY will transform an existing corn-based ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, to a plant that will have both corn-to-ethanol technologies and cellulosic ethanol technologies. It will add a cellulosic ethanol production capacity of 25 MMgy, said Jim Sturdevant, director of Project LIBERTY.
Sturdevant said Project LIBERTY will be one of the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol productions. "There are no commercial-scale cellulosic plants in Iowa and I think you'd be hard pressed to find one anywhere," he said. "There's a lot of cellulosic ethanol research plants, pilot plants, laboratory-scale work going on, but in terms of a commercial-scale large plant that's producing cellulosic ethanol there just isn't one quite yet."
Project LIBERTY represents more than $200 million capital investment in Emmetsburg and area farmers will see a revenue increase of $5.4 million to $10.8 million, according to Poet. The primary feedstock for the cellulosic production will be corn cobs.
"We're very proud to have this opportunity to work on this challenge because cellulosic ethanol will have so much benefit for our nation and our world. It's a tremendous opportunity for us to significantly reduce dependency of foreign oil as a nation," Sturdevant said.
The project, funded by Poet, the U.S. DOE, and the state of Iowa, is scheduled to being production in 2011.
------------------
October 30, 2008
Poet LLC will receive $76.3 million in federal funding to begin producing fuel from corn cobs and fiber, the nation's top ethanol producer said.
Privately held Poet said it will expand capacity from 50 million to 125 million gallons per year at its corn ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, with about 25 million gallons made from plant waste typically left behind in farmers'fields.
With the added cellulosic production, a bushel of corn will produce 11 percent more ethanol per bushel of corn, and 27 percent more per acre of corn, Poet said.
"Grain-based ethanol has been and will continue to be an important part of our country's energy supply," Jeff Broin, Poet's chief executive, said in a statement. "By pairing the production of cellulosic ethanol with our existing infrastructure of corn-based ethanol, we will continue to improve corn ethanol and accelerate the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol."
Poet built a $4 million pilot plant at its research center in Scotland, S.D., where it hopes to begin producing some 20,000 gallons of ethanol annually from corn cobs and fiber starting this year.
Poet said that discarded corn cobs and stalks can be removed from agricultural land without causing soil erosion or stealing soil nutrients. The company will need about 275,000 acres of cobs to supply its Emmetsburg plant, which is scheduled for retrofit construction starting in 2009 and operation beginning in 2011.
The Energy Department is covering $80 million of the project's $200 million cost. Poet used an initial $3.7 million from the Department of Energy on preliminary design, engineering and feedstock collection.
The federal grant is part of a program intended to make cellulosic ethanol competitive by 2012. The Energy Department in 2007 awarded $385 million to six companies hoping to build the nation's first large biomass-to-fuel plants.
Other projects in the works include efforts to make alternative fuels from switchgrass, wheat straw, timber scraps and citrus peels.
Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Poet, which has been making ethanol from corn for more than 20 years, operates 25 plants that collectively can pump out more than 1.4 billion gallons of the alternative fuel each year.
-------------------------
August 14, 2008
Fuel producer Poet said on Wednesday that it will open an ethanol plant next year that will use corn cobs and fiber from kernels as a feedstock.
Construction on the $4 million pilot facility in Scotland, S.D., will begin by the end of the year and produce 20,000 gallons of ethanol per year.
Next year, it intends to begin work on a larger, commercial-scale plant using this same process that would begin operating in 2011. It is part of a $200 million Department of Energy cellulosic ethanol research effort called Project Liberty, the company said.
There are hundreds of companies investing in making ethanol from plants other than corn, the primary source today. There are already a handful of cellulosic ethanol plants testing out ways to make fuel from wood chips or sugar cane plant residues, rather than food crops. Cellulosic ethanol can also have a lower environmental impact than corn.
Poet's approach is to expand on its corn ethanol operations to make cellulosic ethanol.
It has a process for separating the fiber, in the form of kernel husks, from the rest of the corn. Corn cobs, meanwhile, are typically left on the field and don't add a lot of nutrients to the soil, said Jeff Broin, the CEO of Poet on a conference call with reporters.
Broin said the prospects for commercial cellulosic ethanol are better than ever because of recent technology advances and a huge amount of investment.
"It's no longer a question of if we can produce cellulosic ethanol but when. I don't know if I would be able to say that even a year ago," he said.
----------------
POET has signed phase I of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for a grant that will fund a portion of Project LIBERTY (up to $80 million).
The agreement finalizes the first phase of a DOE award that was announced in February and will govern all aspects of the project leading up to construction. With the agreement in place, POET is moving forward on project preliminary design and engineering, environmental engineering, biomass collection and other activities.
According to the cooperative agreement, phase one of the project will last approximately 20 months. A subsequent phase two agreement will then be negotiated to cover construction which is expected to take two years. Following construction, facility operation is expected to begin in 2011.
"We are humbled and excited to be working with the Department of Energy on a project of such national significance," Jeff Broin, CEO of POET said. "Our goal is to bring cellulosic ethanol to commercial viability in order to reduce global warming, revitalize the rural economy and lessen our country's dependency on foreign oil." The project will cost in excess of $200 million and create 30 new jobs at the facility.
|
