According to the Michael McAdams, president of the Advanced Biofuels Association, if the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sticks with the 2.2 billion gallons in the final rule, the agency will pull the rug out from underneath the growing advanced biofuel industry. This was in response to the EPA’s proposed 2014 fuel for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that proposed the …
Project LIBERTY Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Update
A 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant is on track to start cranking out the advanced biofuel early next year. Officials with POET-DSM Advanced Biofuel’s Project LIBERTY updated progress on the refinery in Northwest Iowa during the Platts Biofuels and Chemicals conference. “We had a great summer for construction and have been able to stay on track to start producing cellulosic …
Agronomic Data Shows Viability of Biomass Harvesting
The Advanced Biofuels Conference & Expo is in full swing in Omaha, Nebraska with several hundred industry members on hand for the event. Today POET-DSM, an event sponsor, has announced that according to the latest data from researchers with Iowa State University and the United States Department of Agriculture (UDSA) harvesting crop residue for cellulosic ethanol production is consistent with …
California Court Rules Against LCFS
A California appeals court this week overturned a regulation implementing the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard. California’s Fifth District Court of Appeal issued its decision in POET, LLC v. California Air Resources Board (ARB) on Monday, ruling for POET on every one of its substantive challenges and reversing the decision of the Superior Court affirming the LCFS. The Court also …
POET-DSM Cellulosic Ethanol Plant Ready in ’14
The POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels’ first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant is on track to start in 2014. The announcement for the plant was made at the recent Fuel Ethanol Workshop (FEW) in St. Louis, Mo., where Wade Roby from POET took part in a panel discussion. Steve Hartig, General Manager for POET-DSM, talked with Joanna and said Project LIBERTY, currently under …
Governors Tell Congress to Support RFS
The Governor’s Biofuels Coalition met in Sioux Falls Wednesday and sent a letter to members of Congress in support of the Renewable Fuels Standard. The letter from the 30 governors represented by the Coalition, led by Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, urges Congress to stay the course on the RFS. “As governors who see firsthand the impact that the RFS has …
POET Biorefining-Macon Suspends Production Due to Drought
POET Biorefining – Macon is temporarily suspending plant operations effective Feb. 1 due primarily to a lack of available local corn caused in part by last summer’s drought. All of the plant’s 44 team members will remain employed at their current hours. Many will assist in installation of the approximately $14.5 million in upgrades to the plant that will occur …
POET Producing Corn Oil at 25 Biorefineries
Nearly all of POET’s ethanol plants have now producing corn oil: 25 of their 27 plants have installed corn oil technology bringing its total capacity to approximately 250,000 tons per year, enough feedstock to produce 68 million gallons of biodiesel annually. Branded Voilà, POET has been selling the corn oil since January 2011 with its ethanol plant in Hudson, South …
Obama Wins. Did Renewable Energy Win?
President Barack Obama has been elected to a second term to lead the United States. While not clairvoyant, I suspect the defining turn in support for Obama was the convergence of hurricane Sandy and Mayor Michael Bloomberg throwing his support behind Obama with the statement that he is the climate change President. If he is in fact the president for climate …
POET-DSM Partners with ANDRITZ
POET-DSM has signed on the International Technology Group ANDRITZ, to supply a two-step biomass treatment process for the commercial-scale cellulosic bioethanol plant under construction in Emmetsburg, Iowa known as Project LIBERTY. The technology was designed to help draw out available sugar in the collected biomass, in this case corn stover, corn cobs, and husks, so it can be converted into …