Dec 8 2010
Poet, Sioux Falls-based ethanol producing company, has declared that it will commence the construction of its Emmetsburg biofuel plant in the following year after receiving necessary loan securities from the U.S. Department of Energy.
The proposed Project Liberty cellulosic ethanol plant will yield around 25 million gallons of biofuel every year utilizing corn cobs and other type of plant leftovers from the fields. The construction of the plant is anticipated to be completed in 15 to 16 months time.
The company has commenced testing of its raw material delivery system this fall by allowing the farmers $40 a ton for each round bale of dried out corn cobs, husks, and leaves. Poet has already constructed a storage facility for storing biomass at the Emmetsburg site where a conventional corn ethanol plant exists right now. The company has started associating with the farmers from 2007 and introduced them to various procedures and special type of machineries to collect the remains of the crop. The company has engaged 85 farmers from Northwest Iowa to deliver around 56,000 tons of removed corn cobs and dried fodder to the Emmetsburg plant in the coming harvest season. The company is expected receive one ton of biomass from every acre of corn cultivation.
Jim Sturdevant, Project Liberty’s director, said that the current arrangement with the farmers will enable the plant to get the required amount of biomass when the plant starts its operations. He added that such an arrangement is required when the farmers are engaged to perform something, which they have not done before