Domestic Fuel

Mr. Ethanol, Jeff Broin, CEO, POET is looking to the future and a new organization that will help open new markets for the renewable fuel.

I spoke to Jeff at last week’s Project LIBERTY field day and asked him what he thinks about the results of our Presidential election. He says, “President-Elect Obama, is going to be I think very, very strong for ethanol.” In fact, Jeff says that POET had one of Obama’s top advisors on energy at their grand opening in Ohio just a couple weeks ago and she stated that he would like to see the RFS increase to 60 billion gallons which Jeff says, “is a great thing for farmers, it’s a great thing for agriculture, it’s a great thing for ethanol.”

An issue that Jeff says presents a challenge to the ethanol industry is the regulatory cap which limits ethanol to 10 percent of the fuel supply – and the industry is bumping up on it now. He says they need access to more markets. For that reason a new ethanol organization is being formed. “We actually are just in the process of working with many other ethanol producers and several ag companies to create a new organization that’s going to drive that agenda forward.” He says we’ll hear more about it shortly.

You can listen to my interview with Jeff here: poet-liberty-08-broin-2.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.4MB)

When it comes to harvesting equipment for Case IH, Scott Acker is who you want to talk to. He’s their Director, Harvesting Marketing. I spoke with him at POET’s Project LIBERTY field day right after he answered a bunch of questions from farmers who were attending.

Sam says POET approached them with the idea of collecting cobs to make ethanol about a year ago. They discussed the business opportunities and concluded that this was a promising venture. He says they need to provide farmers with incentive and options to harvest both the grain and cobs so POET can make more ethanol. They’re working on it.

The harvesting options Case IH is working on include CCM and a cart behind the combine that collects the cobs separately from the grain. He says it’s best then to just pile the cobs for later pickup.

You can listen to my interview with Sam here: poet-liberty-08-acker.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.9MB)

The Director of Business Development for POET is Scott Weishaar. He was the guy who told us about the various equipment options on display at their Project LIBERTY field day. That’s because he works directly with the farm OEM’s.

He says the response from the OEM’s is phenomenal. There are several systems already being tested and they should be available in the near future. He says one of the important elements of harvesting cobs for the farmer is being able to do it without “slowing them down.” He also says they’re targeting the collection of cobs to all sizes of farms too. Therefore, there are multiple options and costs for some of these solutions

Options to collect the cobs include CCM (corn cob mix) where the cobs are mixed with the grain during harvest and then separated afterward and towable solutions where the cobs are collected in separate bins during the harvest process.

You can listen to my interview with Scott here: poet-liberty-08-weishaar.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

I also recorded Scott’s stage presentation in which he talks about the whole cob collection process which you can watch here:

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.3MB)

Someone had to provide assistance to get all this big machinery to the POET Project LIBERTY field day last week. That someone was MachineryLink, represented by Landon Morris, Vice President, Marketing.

Landon says they’re in the business of leasing late model combines and that they heard about the project a year ago. So what they’re doing is leasing machines directly to POET. He says they’ve used them in their research this summer to test their cob wagons. He thinks that it’s interesting that ethanol companies are now thinking about farm equipment.

You can listen to my interview with Landon here: poet-liberty-08-morris.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.2MB)

When you’re attending a farm event it’s always nice to get a farmer’s perspective on things. That’s what I did at the POET Project LIBERTY field day when I spoke with Todd Mathisen who farms just east of Emmetsburg, IA. I asked him what he thought of POET’s idea to harvest corn cobs for cellulosic ethanol production. He said, “I think it’s a great idea. I think we’re definitely going to add value to corn. Anything that produces more revenue, it’s going to take more work but I think open-minded farmers will grab hold of this and I think it’ll be a good deal.”

Now that sounds positive. Todd says the cobs are basically a waste product that isn’t even that good for the ground and he likes the idea of turning them into energy. Seems to make sense to me too. He’s a little apprehensive of the equipment that’s being developed and the labor involved but he’s sure that improvements will be made over the next couple years.

I also asked him about President-Elect Obama. He likes the fact that the Illinois Senator has always been supportive of renewable fuels. He’s interested to see what will happen.

Todd says he just finished his harvesting. He worked it wet, planted it wet but thinks he still got a good crop and he seems pretty happy about it.

You can listen to my interview with Todd here: poet-liberty-08-mathisen.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.0MB)

The Director of Project LIBERTY for POET is Jim Sturdevant. He oversees all the activities across the company that are “pulling together to transform this ethanol plant into one of the nation’s first cellulosic ethanol plants.” The plant he’s referring to is POET’s Emmetsburg facility where they held a field day yesterday. He says they intend to replicate what they’re doing with the local plant at their other facilities. Jim was very happy with the turnout at their field day even though the weather was not very cooperative.

Jim says they’ve been doing research on corn cob harvesting as well as the economic viability of doing it. He says, “We will not move forward unless this is economical.” Their models show that it will be although there is no pricing on the prototype equipment that was on display at the event.

I think it was interesting to hear him talk about the research into how to store the cobs. It looks like all you have to do is pile them up at the edge of the field for POET to pick them up.

You can listen to my interview with Jim here: poet-liberty-08-sturdevant.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.1MB)

There are several farm equipment manufacturers working with POET on corn cob harvesting solutions. One of them is John Deere. Of the current options for harvesting/collecting the cobs, Deere is working on the corn cob mix kit (CCM) option. It’s basically an attachment to the combine according to John Deere’s Barry Nelson, who was attending the POET Project LIBERTY field day.

Barry says that this will allow farmers to produce up to 11 percent more ethanol per acre. That’s a pretty good gain in efficiency. He says they’re also looking at other equipment options including a special cart or new combine.

You can listen to my interview with Barry here: poet-liberty-08-nelson.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.6MB)

At today’s POET Project LIBERTY Field Day, Jeff Broin, CEO, spoke to a large group of farmers who attended to see just what the company is planning in the production of cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs. We were supposed to see field harvesting demonstrations with prototype equipment to show the different ways that farmers will be able to collect the cobs for delivery to a local plant like the one here in Emmetsburg, IA but we had to be content to hear it described inside and speak with equipment company representatives. No one complained when the rain was falling!

If you’d like to hear what Jeff had to say then watch this video from today’s program:

You can find more videos from POETTV on YouTube.

Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Jeff Broin is CEO of POET and his company just continues to make innovations in the ethanol production business. Lately they’ve been very focused on what they call Project LIBERTY. The goal is to make cellulosic ethanol out of corn cobs. The company held a field day to showcase some of the equipment that companies like John Deere, Case IH and others are developing to assist with the harvest and collection of this biomass that’s left over after harvesting the grain.

Forbes magazine calls Jeff, Mr. Ethanol and has a nice article on him titled “Mr. Ethanol Fights Back” in their latest edition. I spoke with him today about Project LIBERTY. He says they’re not only adding 100 million gallons of grain ethanol production to the Emmetsburg plant but an addition 25 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol production from corn cobs. They will begin construction on these additions late next year and will have the cellulosic production going by 2011.

Jeff says they’ve invested millions of dollars in the cellulosic ethanol process and have been working with ag equipment OEM’s on corn cob collection. I’ll have more interviews coming up on the various ways they’re doing that. One thing this effort to grow ethanol production from corn cobs does is show the close connection between agriculture and the renewable fuel business. Jeff says cellulosic ethanol production from corn cobs can potentially produce an additional 5 billions gallons of the fuel which would replace a significant portion of the fuel we have to import from foreign countries. He says that’s good for America and the future of our country.

You can see photos of today’s event here: Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album. I’ll have a lot more tomorrow. Right now I’ve got a long drive home.

You can listen to my interview with Jeff here: poet-liberty-08-broin-1.mp3

You can also download the interview with this link (mp3).

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.8MB)

As I was driving into Emmetsburg, IA last night I saw this plant off in the distance. I’m pretty sure this is the POET Emmetsburg ethanol plant. Actually, it’s the AGP soybean processing plant. The POET plant is behind it from the direction I took the photo. I’m here in town for today’s Project LIBERTY field day. We’re supposed to see some field demonstrations but it rained last night and it’s raining right now so we’ll see what happens. Here’s some information about the field day from a recent POET news release.

Farmers next month will see first-hand how equipment manufacturers are responding to the latest advancement in ethanol production and the new revenue opportunity for farmers: harvesting corn cobs for cellulosic ethanol production.

POET hosts Project LIBERTY Field Day Nov. 6 in Emmetsburg, Iowa. The event, which is open to the public, will bring equipment manufacturers large and small together with farmers at POET Biorefining – Emmetsburg to show prototype equipment for efficiently harvesting corn cobs. Farmers will have the chance to talk with equipment dealers and see prototype equipment in action.