Iowa Opens Its First Commercial Cellulosic Ethanol Plant

Last week in Emmetsburg, IA, baling wire was cut to signify the grand opening of a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, reported the Sioux City Journal. The plant is the first of three such facilities under development in the Midwest, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administrator.

The venture, dubbed Project Liberty, is a $250 million partnership between Royal DSM, a Dutch biotechnology company, and Poet, a Sioux Falls-based ethanol maker. It is expected to produce 20 million gallons of ethanol in its first full year of production from corn cobs, stalks, leaves and other plant residue left on fields as waste.

The state of Iowa invested about $20 million in the new plant for engineering and construction costs through tax credits and job training funds. The U.S. Department of Energy provided $100 million in grants over seven years. Assuming continued federal support with its renewable fuels program and other variables, Poet-DSM has the potential to see sales of about $250 million from bioethanol and licensing by the year 2020.

Using cellulosic material from field residue, known as corn stover, provides a lower-cost alternative to making ethanol from corn kernels. In addition, it brings the process closer to using the entire plant product, making a nearly 100% renewable product, as even the by-products of distillation will be reused in another form.

Poet owns 27 ethanol plants, including a traditional corn ethanol plant at the same site as the new cellulosic refinery.

Farmers are paid $65 to $75 per dry ton for the biomass, and the plant will use 770 tons daily.

Michael Knotek, U.S. Department of Energy undersecretary for science and energy, said the nation needs another 1,000 plants like the Emmetsburg facility to be built within the next 25 years. S