POET, the largest ethanol producer in the US, is developing a facility that will turn around 300,000 tons of corn cobs into about 30 million gallons of ethanol each year.
The 22-acre site will have capacity to house 23,000 tons of biomass bales.
Construction on the main ethanol production facility is expected to begin in early 2012, subject to approval of a loan guarantee from the federal government.
Project LIBERTY, as the development is called, is being supported by $14.7 million from the Iowa Power Fund.
Iowa Governor Chet Culver, who attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the site yesterday, said the project was a demonstration of Iowa’s ambitions to produce energy at home, rather than rely on foreign oil.
He said: “Americans have a choice before them – to continue to pay for oil produced by nations controlled by foreign dictators who do not share our values and who, in many instances, shelter those who dream of our demise or, in the alternative, to produce our energy at home. Iowans choose the latter course.”
Farmers
Farmers in the local area have already received $100,000 in incentives to set up a new harvest system to provide the corn cobs and light stover for the new cellulosic ethanol facility.
Working with Iowa State University and Idaho National Laboratory, POET has completed two years of testing on the area’s soil with different harvest types.
The company said taking out a ton of biomass from the average 4.26 tons available per acre would not require any “drastic” changes in fertilizer use for farmers taking part in the program.
POET CEO Jeff Broin said: “As biomass harvesting for cellulosic ethanol grows, America’s reliance on foreign oil will wane and be replaced by a new reliance, this time on rural communities within our own borders. The American farmer will provide food, feed and fuel for the country at an unheard of rate.”
Cellulosic ethanol differs from conventional ethanol because non-food and waste materials can be used to make it.
This means it avoid affecting food prices and reduces the amount of land taken away from food production.
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