Domestic Fuel

The largest ethanol producer in the world got a little bigger today, and so did Indiana’s ethanol production capacity.

POET opened its 27th ethanol plant and fourth plant in Cloverdale, Indiana with a grand opening event that included ethanol industry and government leaders, area farmers, new team members and area residents.

The opening of POET Biorefining – Cloverdale represents an important milestone for Indiana, bringing total ethanol production to over 1 billion gallons, which was a development goal set by state leaders.

Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman said Indiana’s ethanol production has been good for the Hoosier economy. “Indiana is doing its part to ease our reliance on foreign oil,” Lt. Gov. Skillman said. “With the help of companies like POET, we will continue to create homegrown energy while giving an economic boost to rural Indiana.”

Skillman had the ribbon cutting honors at the grand opening, aided by other dignitaries, including POET CEO Jeff Broin, Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis, and plant General Manager Dave Brooks.

POET purchased the 90 million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant, which begins production next week, from Altra Biofuels in June 2010. Since then, the company has been busy installing about $30 million in upgrades, including BPX®, POET’s patented fermentation process that uses enzymes instead of heat and POET’s Total Water Recovery system that cuts wastewater discharge. That technology and other additions make POET Biorefining — Cloverdale one of the most energy and water efficient plants in the industry.

POET biorefineries have slashed water use through the utilization of the company’s Total Water Recovery technology. Across the board, the company’s plants have reduced water use by a total of 411 million gallons of water per year compared to 2009 levels. This savings means that on average, a POET ethanol plant uses 2.77 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol produced. The industry average is 3 gallons of water per 1 gallon of ethanol produced.

But this achievement is not near POET’s goal. With startup of systems at their biorefineries in Mitchell, S.D.; Ashton, Iowa; and Portland, Ind., the company is nearly halfway to its goal of saving 1 billion gallons of water annually by 2014, which would mean using 2.33 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol produced. POET’s water saving goal is one part of its company-wide sustainability initiative called “Ingreenuity.”

“I’m proud that in each of the 23 years we’ve been in business, we’ve been able to improve the environmental performance of ethanol production,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said. “Water is one of the most important resources on our planet. We will continue to find ways to maximize that resource and other resources in our ongoing work to be as efficient as we can be.”

Currently, 12 of POET’s 26 plants are running the system at full capacity, and another six are scheduled to come online this year. Total Water Recovery will also be running in their 27th plant, POET Biorefining – Cloverdale, which POET recently acquired and will start production later this month.

According to the company, in 2009, their plants used an average of three gallons of water per gallon of ethanol, which is an 80 percent decrease from when the company first produced ethanol in 1988. That average includes the alternative sources of water used at several POET plants. At POET Biorefining — Corning (Iowa) most of the water used for cooling comes from the Corning Waste Water Treatment Plant. One hundred percent of the water at POET Biorefining — Portland (Ind.) is recycled from a nearby quarry. POET Biorefining — Big Stone (S.D.) gets 80 percent of its water from the cooling ponds of an adjacent power plant and discharges it back to the power plant.

Jeff Lautt has been named President of POET. He has been with the company since 2005 and prior to this promotion, served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Operations. Jeff Broin, the founder of POET, will remain as CEO and Chairman of the Board.

“Over his six-year career at POET, Jeff Lautt has continually taken on more and more of the daily operations of the company,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said. “I have full confidence that he will excel in this new role and help take POET to new heights.”

The change in leadership will allow Broin to focus his time and energy on long-term strategy for the company and well as the industry. “With more of the day-to-day operations in Jeff Lautt’s hands, I can invest more of my time in planning the future of POET and work on issues critical to the ethanol industry,” Broin said. “Many of the challenges POET faces are shared by the entire ethanol industry. As co-chairman of Growth Energy, I also look forward to working with others in the industry to face those challenges head-on.”

In his prior role, Lautt was responsible for all operational business units within POET. Of his new role, Lautt commented, “Under the leadership of Jeff Broin, POET has grown into a very successful company. Working with Jeff and the dedicated team at POET, I look forward to playing an even bigger role in future accomplishments.”

POET Biorefining- Cloverdale, located near Cloverdale, Indiana is hosting a Grand Opening on March 15th. This is POET’s 27th ethanol plant and they purchased the 90 million gallon-per-year ethanol plant in 2010 and over the past several months have invested nearly $30 million dollars in upgrades that include BPX, a patented fermentation process that uses enzymes instead of heat, reducing energy costs. The plant also has a water recovery system and new pollution control equipment. Once the plant is online, it will employ 40 people and bring the state’s total ethanol production over their goal of 1 billion gallons.

The Grand Opening begins at 9:30 am with public tours followed by a speaking program at 11:30 am to noon that includes POET CEO Jeff Broin and Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman along with Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. At noon, lunch will be provided followed by additional public tours at 12:30 p.m. The event concludes at 2:30 pm. Media and the public are welcome to attend.

There is NO parking at the plant. Public parking is available at Martin Aggregates at 6252 US Hwy 231 South, Cloverdale, Ind. Buses will run continuously to and from the plant throughout the day.

Last fall farmers in and near Emmetsburg, Iowa were harvesting biomass. Currently, they are in the process of delivering these biomass bales to POET’s 22-acre storage site situated next to Project LIBERTY, the future 25 million gallon per year cellulosic ethanol plant.

Area farmers have harvested nearly 56,000 tons of corn cobs, leaves, husks and some stalk but had to wait to deliver the material while the USDA worked out the details of their Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). The program provides matching funds of up to $45 per ton to each grower for a maximum of two years. The goal of the program is to help farmers offset the start-up costs for developing the cellulosic feedstock market for biofuels and renewable energy.

“While we shared the farmers’ frustration with delays to BCAP, we are happy to see that the program is being implemented and farmers are now delivering biomass to POET,” Project LIBERTY Director Jim Sturdevant said. “I know they are eager to deliver their bales, just as we are eager to validate our receiving and handling procedures at the new biomass stackyard.

Sturdevant continued, “BCAP is important to helping these first farmers get the new biomass market off the ground. BCAP’s inclusion in the next Farm Bill is an important part of continuing to develop this market.”

So last week, the farmers began completing the application process and shortly thereafter, began to deliver the biomass. Biomass bales this year will be used primarily to test procedures for delivery, receiving, quality assurance, storage, and handling at the stackyard. When operational, Project LIBERTY will use about 300,000 tons of biomass annually to produce ethanol.

Ethanol industry campaigns targeting the general public and Congress have won top awards from Region II of the National Agri-Marketing Association, which covers the west central part of the country from Montana to Texas.

First place honors for “Television Ad Series” and “Best in Show” from the NAMA Region II went to a national TV advertising campaign for ethanol producer POET. The campaign includes three ads, each representing a different aspect of ethanol production. A farmer, a scientist and a plant manager recite free-verse poetry explaining their role in helping solve the nation’s fuel crisis. The campaign ran on Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC, CNN and HLN. The ads, which can be seen on POET’s website, were designed by 3 Advertising out of Albuquerque, N.M. POET’s website, which was also designed by 3 Advertising, won first place in the Internet Website category.

In the same region, the national advertising campaign “Facts” by Growth Energy won a First Place award for outdoor creative. The Facts ad campaign launched in April and ran through the fall, with nearly $3 million invested on national TV, on-line, traditional print, and outdoor ads. The outdoor creative segment of the campaign was Growth Energy’s “station domination” at the Washington, DC, Capitol South Metro station – the closest stop to the U.S. Capitol and the offices of the House of Representatives – which included 45 large-scale floor mats, pylon wraps, wall graphics and banners. The campaign also won a Merit Award in the multi-media category, for how the creative was used on national TV, on-line, and in traditional print and broadcast, as well as outdoor. The TV spots can be viewed on Growth Energy’s website.

The submissions now advance to the Best of NAMA National Awards in Kansas City in April.

Cellulosic ethanol from the nation’s largest ethanol producer is powering a cross country road trip of the non-profit EcoTrek Foundation to showcase renewable fuels and educate the public about environmental issues.

The cellulosic ethanol made from corn cobs and stover will be provided by POET, which has a pilot plant in Scotland, S.D. that has produced cellulosic ethanol for more than two years and tests equipment for commercial use at Project LIBERTY, POET’s planned 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant, which will be built in Emmetsburg, Iowa.

The EcoTrek “Best of America Tour” started today at the Santa Monica pier (the start of Historic Route 66) and will travel to cities on the East Coast, including Washington, D.C., and New York with stops in-between at national parks, farms, cities and other venues. Driver and EcoTrek founder Tom Holm will demonstrate how a renewable, American-made fuel can green our nation’s transportation system.

“We’re taking a regular American-made pickup truck, outfitting it with American-made accessories and powering it with American-made biofuels in order to emphasize our ability to be gentler to the environment, while bolstering American’s economy, national security and independence from foreign oil,” Holm said. “My hope is that the use of clean biofuels made here at home will begin to minimize our sacrifices and lead to a more prosperous America admired for the innovations for which Americans are noted.”

Holm will work to spread the message about renewable fuel at every stop on his trip, including visiting farms and refineries that produce cellulosic ethanol in South Dakota and Iowa. The tour concludes March 11 on the pier at Santa Monica.

New equipment designed by POET has made loading distillers’ grains (DDGS) safer, faster, easier and ultimately more profitable for the company’s ethanol plants.

It’s called the Load Toad™ and it was designed to allow rail cars to be packed more densely by forcing DDGS to the sides of the rail car, a process that is usually done by hand with a shovel. By distributing the DDGS load more evenly and efficiently, POET plants have been able to pack 3%-5% more DDGS into each car.

“The Load Toad not only allows us to put more DDGS in a railcar, which increases our production efficiency, but this device also allows the commodities team to more safely load a railcar,” said Dave Hudak, general manager at POET Biorefining – Alexandria (Ind.). “We no longer have to shovel any product nor stand on the top of the car to load it. The potential for a back injury has been eliminated.”

Commodities Assistant Ryan Schroeder from POET Biorefining – Leipsic in Ohio developed the first prototype of the Load Toad as a solution to a common loading problem that led to cone-shaped pileups in the rail cars. These pileups dramatically lowered efficiency in each rail car and created a great deal physical work for staff. “It felt good knowing that not just our plant would benefit, but the commodities people at all the POET plants would benefit,” Schroeder said. The Load Toad is currently being used at POET plants, but the company is exploring opportunities to market the technology to other ethanol producers in the future.

Here’s a video of the Load Toad in action from the POET website.

The Indiana State Department of Agriculture has recognized POET President and CEO Jeff Broin with the 2010 Paul Dana Excellence in Bioenergy Leadership Award. POET is the nation’s largest ethanol production company with 27 plants producing more than 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol a year.

ISDA Director Joseph Kelsay presented the award during the Greater Indiana Clean Cities Awards Ceremony at the Governor’s Residence in Indianapolis. The Paul Dana Award recognizes those who have exemplified leadership and innovative vision in the bioenergy industry. Governor Daniels and Lt. Governor Becky Skillman established the award to honor the memory of Indy Racing League (IRL) driver Paul Dana, a strong supporter of Indiana’s growing biofuels industry who was killed in a racing accident in 2006. Broin is pictured here during last week’s announcement of ethanol’s new involvement in NASCAR.

Other 2010 Greater Indiana Clean Cities Award recipients include Thornton’s Quick Café and Market for outstanding achievement in the implementation and promotion of E85 retail locations; Doug Henderson of Co-Alliance for outstanding achievement in the sale and support of biodiesel blended fuel; and the City of Indianapolis for outstanding achievement in the deployment of hybrid vehicle technology.

During the awards presentation, Kelsay emphasized the importance of biofuels in Indiana. “Indiana is proud of the rapid success we have had in biofuels production. Indiana’s new ethanol and biodiesel plants have created direct jobs for Hoosier workers and many more in other supporting industries,” he said. Kelsay notes that in January 2005, Indiana had only one ethanol plant and currently the state has 11 completed ethanol plants and two more under construction. Indiana had no biodiesel plants in 2005 and there are now five biodiesel plants with a combined capacity of more than 100 million gallons of biodiesel. He also noted that the proliferation of E85 and biodiesel pumps in the state has grown dramatically in the past five years.

As the corn harvest is winding down through the Midwest, Project Liberty is just ramping up on its collection of light corn stover and corn cobs. This fall is the first major cellulosic feedstock harvest for the biorefinery that is expected to be in full production sometime in the first half of 2012. Recently, Project Liberty was highlighted during “Market to Market” on Iowa Public Television.

Once Project Liberty is successfully up and running, POET hopes to produce 3.5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol by 2022. As specified in the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS2), the country needs to use 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 with a minimum of 16 billion gallons coming from advanced biofuels and/or cellulosic ethanol. While the cellulosic numbers have not been met this year and are not expected to be met in 2011, things should rapidly change as cellulosic producers, such as POET, ramp up to commercial scale production levels.

Mike Roth, POET’s Director of Biomass stated in the piece, “It’s a brand new industry within ethanol, which is relatively new, being about 20 years old. We still call ethanol a very immature industry. There is still a lot to learn and a lot of efficiencies to be gained. And this is adding a whole new component to it that really changes the game.”

Ultimately the technology developed by POET is designed to be “bolted-on” to current corn-ethanol facilities, eliminating the need to build new biorefineries to meet the country’s biofuels demands.

You can follow Project Liberty’s progress here.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has given the green light to E15 ethanol … or maybe a “pale” green light, in the case where it is a partial waiver to allow up to 15 percent ethanol in gasoline for 2007 model year vehicles or newer.

In this edition of the Domestic Fuel Cast, we hear from EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Gina McCarthy, who says the agency needs input on what the E15 pump labels should look like. We also hear from Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen, who is pleased with seeing the rise in the percentage of ethanol allowed in gasoline but is concerned that it is unnecessarily limited to 2007 model year vehicles and newer. He also worries that a “warning” label about E15 at the pumps could confuse consumers and scare them away from using the green fuel. Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy and ethanol producer POET’s president Jeff Broin believe the comment process will weed out any problems, and consumers, and in turn, retailers will end up embracing E15.

More information, including how you can give your input on the label is available at the EPA’s E15 website.

It’s an important conversation, and you can hear more of it in the Domestic Fuel Cast here. Domestic Fuel Cast

You can also subscribe to the DomesticFuel Cast here.:

As part of the Obama Administration’s effort to promote production of fuel from renewable sources, create jobs and mitigate the effects of climate change, Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced a series of measures during a speech to the National Press Club in Washington.

“Domestic production of renewable energy, including biofuels, is a national imperative and that’s why USDA is working to assist in developing a biofuels industry in every corner of the nation,” said Vilsack. “By producing more biofuels in America, we will create jobs, combat global warming, replace our dependence on foreign oil and build a stronger foundation for the 21st century economy.”

The Secretary announced several measures, including the publication of a final rule to implement the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). Under the BCAP final rule, USDA will resume making payments to eligible producers. The program had operated as a pilot, pending publication of the final rule. Authorized in the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, BCAP is designed to ensure that a sufficiently large base of new, non-food, non-feed biomass crops is established in anticipation of future demand for renewable energy consumption.

The nation’s largest ethanol producer, POET, welcomed finalization of rules for the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP), saying it will help launch the biomass market near the site of their planned cellulosic ethanol plant. “The 85 farmers we have contracted with to deliver 56,000 tons of biomass this fall are nearly finished harvesting, so the final BCAP rule comes not a day too soon,” said Jim Sturdevant, Director of Project LIBERTY for POET. “We will now apply for our cellulosic ethanol plant to become an approved Biomass Conversion Facility (BCF) so that local farmers can become eligible for matching payments for the biomass they will soon deliver.”

POET is in the midst of the world’s largest commercial harvest of biomass for cellulosic ethanol. Farmers around Emmetsburg, Iowa are baling corn cobs and light stover for delivery to POET. In order to store the bales, POET recently completed construction of a multi-million dollar stack yard next to where the first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant will be built.

Read more about Vilsack’s announcement here.

The ethanol industry all agrees that today’s decision by the EPA to grant an E15 Waiver for 2007 or newer model cars and light duty trucks is a step in the right direction. However, most groups feel that the decision didn’t go far enough in moving the US to its renewable fuels goals of 36 billion gallons for biofuels by 2022.

Shortly following the EPA press conference, Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack released a statement commending the EPA for its decision. “Today’s announcement from EPA is an important step toward making America more energy independent and creating much-needed jobs in rural America. The announcement will help get existing ethanol capacity into the market.”

Vilsack continued, “Today’s action by Administrator Jackson and the EPA provides assurance to farmers, ranchers and the renewable fuels industry that the government backs the use of home grown energy in our cars and trucks. At the same time, more work is needed and we hope EPA and the Department of Energy complete an evaluation of 2001-2006 models soon.”

However, not all groups agreed with Vilsack’s enthusiasm. POET CEO Jeff Broin, whose company spearheaded the E15 Waiver, reacted by saying, “Approval of E15 in 2007 and newer vehicles is a positive first step toward opening the market for more ethanol to compete with gasoline. However, the EPA must move quickly to take the next step: approval of E15 for use in older vehicles.”

Broin continued, “The arguments being made right now against E15 are the same as those made about E10 back in the late 1980s, when I entered the ethanol industry. Seventy billion gallons later, we have proven those arguments false, just as research on E15 is proving critics wrong today. Greater market access will help give investors the needed confidence to commit to bringing cellulosic ethanol to commercial scale. Many projects, POET’s Project LIBERTY among them, are ready for commercialization but hindered by unnecessary limits on ethanol content in fuel.”

Ethanol enzyme company Genencor, a Division of Danisco echoed others’ sentiments. “We applaud the action taken today by the EPA and hope that they will quickly move to approve E15 for all vehicles. The adoption of sound, tested policies for cleaner fuels is critical to reducing our dependence on foreign oil, supporting our agricultural sector and cutting greenhouse gas emissions,” said Glenn Nedwin, Executive Vice President of Genencor.

As the cellulosic industry gets closer to bringing cellulosic ethanol to market, there have been some concerns regarding how biomass harvesting will affect soil health and yields. These very issues were discussed by Dr. Stuart Birrell a professor at Iowa State University, whom with his team, have been studying soil sustainability as it relates to biomass harvesting.

His latest research has been in partnership with POET’s Biomass division, who is now in the midst of the largest biomass harvesting of light corn stover and corn cobs in the world. Birrell notes that to determine how much biomass a farmer can remove from his field without having adverse effects, it is important to the farmer to understand the health of his soil.

Birrell said during Project Liberty’s BIomass Harvest Kickoff, that there is a lot of variability in fields. In some fields, a farmer won’t be able to remove much, if any biomass whereas in other fields, he may remove more. On average, POET is asking for 1 ton from each field, which averages out to around 20-25 percent of the total biomass. However this could change in the future as bushels per acre increases. In fact, seed companies are predicting that within the next 15 years, corn harvests will double and this feat will be achieved without putting any additional land into production.

Birrell also noted that biomass harvesting may encourage some farmers to move to no-till techniques, which help reduce the amount of carbon released from the soil.

So ultimately, how will a farmer know how much biomass he can remove from his field? With some new technology that Birrell’s team is working on – variable rate removal machines. As a farmer is harvesting his biomass, the machine will automatically adjust how much biomass is removed based on certain soil health characteristics. This will ensure that soil health is not jeopardize by removing too much biomass.

The largest global cellulosic biomass harvest in history is underway and already the world is watching. Last week, Project Liberty kicked off their one-year biomass harvest pilot program as an effort to ensure all the correct logistics are in place in time for Project Liberty to go online in early 2012.

During the event, I caught up with Scott Weishaar, who runs POET’s biomass division. He and his team have been working for years on commercializing cellulsoic ethanol using light corn stover and corn cobs and this pilot program represents that last major hurdle for success.

As part of this program, POET Biomass will have a biomass storage building completed in time for harvest that will house up to 23,000 tons of biomass bales at any given time.

Along with progress comes concerns and Weishaar is very cognizant that people have concerns over what impact the removal of biomass will be on the soil. “We know there are concerns. So we want to make sure we understand all the aspects that are associated with that – soil erosion, nutrients, compaction, and storage characteristics,” said Weishaar.

All of these elements are being studied in conjunction with several partners including Idaho National Laboratory, Iowa State University and USDA’s Biomass Program and the goal is to have all major questions answered prior to the cellulosic ethanol plant going online.

“We are working around the logistics surrounding the collection, storage, and handling of the biomass so we’re ready to supply the feedstock in 2012,” said Weishaar.

As the world watches, there are still many who doubt commercial cellulosic ethanol will ever succeed. To that, Weishaar says the “proof is in the pudding” and they are ready to meet the country’s challenges of producing 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022 and reducing its dependence on foreign oil.”

Listen to the interview with Scott Weishaar here: Scott Weishaar Talks Biomass