Apr. 29, 2010, Washington, D.C. – Poet, a U.S. grain ethanol producer, plans to have
a hand in producing 3.5 billion gallons (13.2 billion litres) of cellulosic
ethanol annually by 2022, Poet CEO Jeff Broin told the National Press Club in
Washington, D.C., in late April. Broin said that the company says that it has
made enough progress on technology and feedstock development to break ground on
its first plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, later this year.
According to Poet’s plans, the 3.5 billion gallons (13.2 billion litres) of cellulosic
ethanol will come from three primary sources:
- 1 billion gallons
(3.8 billion litres) of production capacity from adding the technology to
Poet's existing network of 26 corn grain-based ethanol plants;
- 1.4 billion
gallons (5.3 billion litres) of production capacity from licensing that
technology to other corn grain-based ethanol producers;
- 1.1 billion
gallons (4.2 billion litres) of production capacity from a wide variety of
other feedstocks from across the United States, to be produced by Poet or
through joint ventures and opportunities in which Poet Biomass provides
logistics support to other producers.
The total volume would represent more than 20% of the cellulosic ethanol mandated
in the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard.
Broin said there is a role for policy-makers to play in overcoming the remaining hurdles
to commercializing the cellulosic ethanol production process. "In order for
this vision to become a reality, policy makers must provide access to the
market and the stability needed to attract the large amount of capital that
will be required to finance its construction," Broin said.
According to Broin, Poet has submitted an application for a loan guarantee with the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE). "If we get a favourable ruling, we told the
DOE that we will start construction by the end of this year, which puts us on
track to start up the facility in early 2012," he said. He noted that U.S.
Congress has set a target of 16 billion gallons (60 billion litres) of
cellulosic ethanol by 2022.
Poet’s Project Liberty is a planned 25 million gallon/year (95 million litre/year)
cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, that will use corncobs as
feedstock. Poet plans to begin construction this year on the plant, which will
be co-located with its current grain-ethanol plant at the site. Poet's
pilot-scale plant in Scotland, South Dakota, is already producing cellulosic
ethanol at a rate of approximately 20,000 gallons/year (76,000 litres/year).
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