Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will keynote the Department of Energy 4th annual Biomass Conference on Tuesday. This year’s conference, Biomass 2011, will focus on topics surrounding the use of biomass as a replacement for petroleum to supply the energy, products, and power markets. The Biomass 2011 theme will explore the new horizons of bioenergy technologies …
Loan Guarentee Offered for Cellulosic Ethanol Plant
The government is paving the way for the nation’s first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in Iowa. U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made the announcement today of a $105 million loan guarantee to support the development of Project LIBERTY, sponsored by POET and located in Emmetsburg, Iowa. “This project will help decrease our dependence on oil, …
Load Toad Available for Ethanol Producers
The Load Toad™ was on the loose in Indianapolis last week. The patented Load Toad™ technology that evenly distributes distillers’ dried grains onto rail cars was unveiled for the first time at the 2011 Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Indianapolis, IN. It was first announced at the end of last year. “The Load Toad is used with conventional loading to enhance …
SDSU Helping to Improve Ethanol Plant Efficiency
South Dakota State University (SDSU) is helping to improve the efficiency of ethanol plants. The SDSU Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Department recently invested in small scale, corn milling and ethanol processing equipment to let ethanol plant mangers test process adjustments in order to optimize efficiency. “This small equipment allows them to test small adjustments and see how they work without …
Biomass Harvest Still Allows Soil Conservation
New data shows that responsible harvesting of biomass for ethanol can be part of good soil management efforts for farmland. Iowa State University has completed analysis on data from the third year of an ongoing study for POET’s “Project LIBERTY” near Emmetsburg, Iowa to monitor how soil health is affected when crop residue is removed. The planned 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic …
Recovering Waste Can Improve Plant Profits
According to POET, the largest producer of ethanol in the U.S., recovering waste heat can improve a plant’s bottom line. The company has been testing a new waste heat recovery system at POET Biorefining – Caro and the results have been good: significant natural gas and water savings. The plant produces 53 million gallons per year of ethanol. The plant’s …
POET Launches Corn Oil Product Called Voila
POET has announced it is now selling corn oil extracted from its ethanol plants for use by the biodiesel industry to produce biodiesel. Known as Voilà, the company’s patent-pending technology was debuted at its plant located in Hudson, South Dakota. POET plans to add the technology to its other plants over the course of the year. Eventually, POET believes its …
2 POET Plants Reach 1/2 Billion Gallon Milestone
Two POET ethanol plants have each produced 1/2 billion gallons of ethanol. POET Biorefining – Big Stone produced its 500 millionth gallon of ethanol since going online in 2002 and back in December, POET Biorefining – Chancellor reached the same milestone. These are the only two POET plants to achieve this feat to date. “For years, POET Biorefining – Big …
POET Opens 27th Ethanol Plant in Indiana
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 …
POET’s Biorefineries Slash H20 Use
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 …