March 25, 2008
US ethanol maker wants corn cobs for giant ethanol plant
Ethanol maker Poet is seeking corn cobs and not corn from farmers in Iowa for its giant plant, which would probably use huge volumes of corn cobs to churn out ethanol .
Three years from now, the nation's top ethanol producer hopes to use its plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, to become one of the first refiners to produce cellulosic ethanol on a large scale.
For that, Poet would need 270,000 or corn to supply its US$200 million Project Liberty cellulosic project. This would mean the equivalent of corn from two counties, according to Craig Brownlee, a farmer and investor in the plant in northern Iowa.
Brownlee said there has been some skepticism in town about whether Poet could expand the plant by making ethanol from corn cobs and other plant cellulose.
Poet has been trying to convince farmers and other representatives through a series of meetings.
Jim Sturdevant, director of Project Liberty for Poet, said the meeting was held to provide an overview of developments at the plant, which now consumes 17.5 million bushels of locally grown corn to produce 50 million gallons of ethanol a year.
Poet has pushed its projected completion date for the plant back a year to 2011, Brownlee said, so it will be at least a few growing seasons before Poet needs the cobs.
When expansion is complete, the plant will make 125 million gallons of ethanol a year, according to Poet. As much as 30 million gallons will be made from cobs and kernel hulls.
Poet will pay farmers US$40 to US$60 a tonne for their cobs, Brownlee said. A farm bill under negotiation in Congress may allow farmers to also receive a federal supplement for their cobs.
Deere & Co. (DE), Case IH and Claas of America Inc. are working with Poet to develop implements that can harvest cobs efficiently, Sturdevant said.
"The major equipment companies are committed," Sturdevant said. "Cobs are doable."
Poet, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, has 22 plants that can pump out 1.2 billion gallons of ethanol.
