POET: 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy candidate profile

POET
Based in: South Dakota
2008-09 ranking: 4

Business: Largest private first generation ethanol producer; developer of cellulosic ethanol technology (using corn cobs as a feedstock).

Model: Owner-operator, holding minority stakes in most of its plants, with local investors.

Past milestones:
1. Opening of the company’s pilot cellulosic plant in Scotland, SD, producing cellulosic ethanol at a rate of approximately 20,000 gallons per year.
2. Completed its first corn cob collection season, and in a 16-day trial of new cob harvesting tecnology.

3. Announced the creation of POET Biomass, a division of POET devoted to managing harvest and transportation logistics for corn cobs – POET’s cellulosic feedstock – as well as waste wood and other feedstocks to be used for cellulosic ethanol and alternative energy projects at their production facilities.

4. The POET Biorefining plant in Bingham Lake has deployed a new technology for eliminating water discharge, and the 35 Mgy corn ethanol plant is now using 2.64 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol produced, down from 3.42, with water discharges limited to steam and the water content in dried distillers grains and other byproducts. POET has been working on recycled water use, capturing 100 percent of its water used at its Portland, Indiana plant from recycled quarry water and 80 percent of its water at the Big Stone, SD plant from a power plant cooling pond.

5. With the city of Sioux Falls, completed a landfill gas pipeline that will supply methane gas to the 105 Mgy POET plant at Chancellor. The 10-mile, low-pressure pipeline from the Sioux Falls Regional Sanitary Landfill will provide the landfill gas used a wood waste-fuel boiler to generate process steam.  The two alternative energy sources will offset up to 90 percent of the plant’s process steam needs and could in the future replace 90 percent of the plant’s total energy needs. The partnership will provide revenues to Sioux Falls and reduce costs at the POOET Chancellor plant. The project is the 460th around the country to utilize landfill methane. The pipeline cost the city $4.3 million, costs $300,000 to operate, and will generate $1.8 million in annual city revenue from sale of methane to POET.

6. POET received the 2008 Biofuels Digest Achievement Award for Cellulosic Ethanol.
The award was given in recognition of achieving high yields and reduced energy inputs in ethanol production through its BPX technology.

7. Awarded the Energy Star designation for energy efficiency at its Ashton, IA plant. The 56 Mgy POET corn ethanol plant in Ashton, which opened in 2005, is equipped with combined heat and power (CHP) that generates up to 7.2 MW of electricity and requires 16 percent less fuel than a conventional process. The process saves 18,900 tons of CO2 emissions per year.

Future milestones:

1. The company said that it expects to harvest up to 25,000 acres for cobs in Texas, South Dakota and Iowa in fall 2009.
2. 25 Mgy Project LIBERTY cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa opens in 2011.

Metrics:
Can produce up to 3.0 gallons of ethanol per bushel of corn with its proprietary BPX technology. BPX also reduces energy needs for fermentation by 8 to 15 percent compared to other ethanol production processes.

Targeting payments to farmers of $30 to $60 per ton for corn stover (cobs and stalk), and said that farmers could increase these payments through the Biomass Crop Assistance Program. An Iowa farm averages 1.5 tons of corn stover per acre, or $45-$90 per acre in value before BCAP payments are considered.

The Hot 50 for 2009-10 will be released Tuesday, 12/1. Between now and then, you’ll see profiles of potential candidates in the Digest, and you’ll have a chance to vote for your favorites. Reader response will count for 50 percent of a company’s overall score in the preparation of the rankings. The remaining 50 percent is voted by a panel of experts.

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