POET hosted a grand opening ceremony Thursday for their 22nd ethanol production facility and the first in the state of Ohio.

Some 3,000 people attended the opening of POET Biorefining – Leipsic, including Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, Ohio Congressman Bob Latta and Mike Wagner, Executive Director for the Buckeye Renewable Fuels Association.

“The State of Ohio is excited to partner with POET to bring about a transformation in how we as Americans produce and consume energy,” Governor Strickland said. “POET has demonstrated its commitment to expanding an important home-grown energy source. This increased production of ethanol in Ohio replaces millions of barrels of imported oil with domestic renewable energy. It is crucial that Ohio foster advanced, reliable, and affordable energy sources – for our economy, our pocketbooks, and our environment.”

POET officials say the facility will be equipped with technology that decreases its environmental footprint, including POET’s patent-pending BPX™ process that eliminates the need for heat in the cooking process of producing ethanol, reducing energy usage by 8-15 percent in comparison with conventional plants. It will also be outfitted with a regenerative thermal oxidizer that eliminates up to 99.9 percent of air emissions.

“We are honored to open the first ethanol plant in the Buckeye state and the first in the nation since the historic legislation of the 2007 Energy Bill,” Jeff Broin, CEO of POET, said. “This inspiring piece of leadership goes further than we ever have gone before as a nation to reduce our dependence on foreign sources of energy. We are proud to be here today doing everything in our power to continue to move our nation away from Middle-East oil and toward Midwest ethanol.”

POET Biorefining – Leipsic is the first of three ethanol production facilities that POET will open in Ohio this year. Additional POET plants are currently under construction in Marion and Fostoria.