2011 Renewable Power, Fuels, and Chemical Conference

Establishing the supply chain for 300,000 tons of biomass annually to produce cellulosic ethanol has been a learning experience, and POET Regional Biomass Coordinator Adam Wirt will outline next week many of those lessons learned at the 2011 Renewable Power, Fuels, and Chemical Conference in Grand Forks, N.D.

POET’s Project LIBERTY will use corn cobs, leaves, husks and some stalk to make 25 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year in Emmetsburg Iowa. It is scheduled for start-up in 2013. Last year, farmers delivered more than 50,000 tons of biomass to POET’s new 22-acre stack yard at the site, and that total will increase this year and in coming years as start-up approaches.

Wirt’s presentation, titled “What Has Been Learned in Establishing a Sustainable Feedstock Supply Chain for POET Project LIBERTY,” will be at 8:40 a.m. CST on Wednesday, July 27 at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks. He will cover the history of what POET has done to establish the feedstock infrastructure, including work with farmers and equipment manufacturers to include them in the learning process. He will also detail the most recent biomass harvest.

About POET
POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world, is a leader in biorefining through its efficient, vertically integrated approach to production. The 23-year-old company produces more than 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol and 10 billion pounds of high-protein animal feed annually from 27 production facilities nationwide. POET also operates a pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, which uses corn cobs, leaves, husk and some stalk as feedstock, and will commercialize the process in Emmetsburg, Iowa. For more information, visit http://www.poet.com.

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