The largest ethanol producer in the world intends to be directly or indirectly responsible for the production of 3.5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol by 2022.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., POET CEO Jeff Broin said they have made enough progress on technology and feedstock development to break ground on their first cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa later this year. “By 2022, POET plans to be responsible for 3.5 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol production by adding the technology to our existing facilities, licensing our technology to other producers and finally, transferring our technology to other forms of biomass such as wheat straw, switchgrass and municipal waste,” Broin said. That volume would represent over 20 percent of the cellulosic ethanol mandated in the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Specifically, one billion gallons of production capacity will come from adding the technology to POET’s existing network of 26 corn-based ethanol plants, while licensing that technology to other corn-based ethanol producers would add another 1.4 billion gallons of production capacity. Another 1.1 billion gallons of production capacity will come from a wide variety of other feedstocks from across the U.S, either produced by POET or through joint ventures and opportunities where POET Biomass provides logistics support to other producers.

POET submitted its application for a loan guarantee with the U.S. Department of Energy to build the Emmetsburg plant. “If we get that favorable ruling, we told the DOE that we will start construction by the end of this year, which puts us on track to start up the facility in early 2012,” said Broin.