Poet, an American ethanol producer, has closed on the purchase of a 90 million gallon-per-year facility located just outside Cloverdale, Indiana, formerly operated by Altra Biofuels.

"We have been looking at potential acquisitions for some time. This plant, in this community, will be a perfect fit for what we do at Poet," said Jeff Broin, Poet president.

Poet will install the company's proprietary process technology and improve the original plant design. The approximately US$30 million in upgrades include BPX, Poet's patent-pending fermentation process which uses enzymes instead of heat, reducing energy use by 10-15%. In addition, Poet will install a water recovery system and new pollution control equipment. Poet expects to reopen the plant in about nine months.

Once online, it will bring total Poet nationwide capacity to 1.7 billion gallons annually at its 27 locations. The Cloverdale plant will have capacity to produce 246,500 tonnes of Dakota Gold annually.

Broin also said the facility is a candidate down the road for retrofitting with cellulosic capabilities. Poet has been evaluating the use of corn cobs for ethanol production, which Poet will commercialise soon in Emmetsburg, Iowa.

Although several plants across the country remain idled after the 2008 market crash, Broin said Poet's new technologies continue to help the company remain competitive and successful in the long-term.