Newest Indiana ethanol plant starts receiving corn

POET Biorefining - North Manchester (Ind.) received its first load of corn on Monday. The trucks hauling corn from the area were lined up at 7:30 a.m. to make their deliveries to the plant. Pictured here is the first test load that was delivered to the facility last week.

The unloading process is extremely efficient. Trucks pull up to the scale house where the weigh master weighs the truck and obtains a sample of their corn for grading purposes. The truck is then sent on to the grains building to unload their corn. This entire process only takes a few minutes. The grain delivery was also covered by a local TV station.

For now the corn is being stored in the grain bins until the grand opening when we will officially start production of the plant. Once in operation POET Biorefining - North Manchester will produce 65 million gallons of ethanol per year from more than 22 million bushels of local corn and produce 178,000 tons of Dakota Gold Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS).

We will celebrate the start of operations on September 11 this year with the governor of Indiana and POET CEO Jeff Broin expected to be in attendance. Tours of the facility will be given to the public starting at 8:30 that morning.

A ground breaking ceremony was held for the facility on July 13 last year, just before construction started on the site. For pictures of that ceremony, click here.