EMMETSBURG, IOWA - Each fall in corn country, big combines prowl through the fields, stripping the valuable kernels from ears and spitting out bits of cornstalk, leaves and empty cobs.The residue, which used to lie on the ground and rot, has become a money crop for the next generation of biofuel.Poet LLC, the nation’s leading ethanol producer, says it is determined to open a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in 2013 next to its existing corn-ethanol plant in this northern Iowa community. The $250 million project could be the first such plant in the nation. Last month, the U.S. Energy Department conditionally committed to a $105 million loan guarantee for it."The technology is there -- it is definitely to the point where we can build the best-in-class plant, and the trick is getting these plants up,” said Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Ethanol Council, which represents many of the approximately dozen U.S. companies working to commercialize cellulosic ethanol.
November 19, 2020 08:27 PM
·
