Rhapsody in Green

Vital is Here!

POET's new magazine, Vital, is making its debut this week! Jeff Broin, CEO for POET, revealed the cover for the April 2008 issue on Friday, April 18, at the quarterly meeting where Sioux Falls employees took home the first copies of the new magazine.

Mailed early this week, Vital was sent to stakeholders in the ethanol industry. Reaching an audience of 10,000, it will hold the distinction of being the most widely circulated publication in the industry, but will contain a slightly different perspective than what you’ve seen from other industry magazines.

We’re putting a face on the ethanol industry by telling the story of the people behind the industry - those who make the ethanol industry, as well as the people most impacted by the benefits the industry has to offer. Each issue will include articles on the future of ethanol, community profiles, environmental advancements and industry issues along with POET Biorefining updates and editorial columns.

Vital will be published quarterly using 100% recycled paper. Also, check us out online where you can subscribe to the printed version.

Alexandria Grand Opening Next Week

Next week, POET will open its 23rd ethanol production facility in Alexandria, Ind. The facility will be the second plant opened in the state of Indiana where one more is under construction. The grand opening is scheduled for April 17 and complete details can be found in a release on our web site.

Hoosier Ag Today interviewed Dave Hudak, the general manager of the facility, and posted it on their web site. You can also listen to the interview here:

Mapping the Corn Genome

Researchers announced this week that they had successfully mapped the corn genome, an exciting discovery with ramifications for the ethanol industry. It could allow seed biotechnology companies to engineer corn with better yields, more drought resistance and many other benefits. As Motley Fool said today: In addition to being a boon for large ethanol producers such as The Andersons and Poet, this could also alleviate some of the tension over the “food vs. fuel” debate by allowing farmers to squeeze more ethanol from each bushel of corn.

Our CEO was interviewed on local NBC affiliate KDLT yesterday. You can watch the video (for a short time) on their home page, and read the transcript here. Jeff's comments follow:

Jeff Broin of POET says "This map of the genome actually would allow corn to advance further even more quickly, so we could potentially see faster gains in yield.”

It will be years before alterations in the genetic code are put into place, but in the end there will be a benefit for everyone.

Broin says, “The increase in corn yield will have the potential to, long term, even lower energy and food prices, which could have a significant impact on everybody.”

Biomass powered ethanol plant featured on local TV

Last November, POET announced that an expansion of our Chancellor, S.D. ethanol production facility would include a solid waste fuel boiler. The biomass boiler will replace more than half of the expanded plant's natural gas usage. Last night, a local TV station covered the announcement in more depth. A transcript is available on their web site, but I've posted the piece here:

POET showcases ethanol at the Big Boy Toy Show

This weekend POET showcased the benefits of ethanol in high performance vehicles at the Big Boy Toy Show in Sioux Falls, SD. Attendees enjoyed a chance to try their luck as an IndyCar driver in the simulator at the POET booth and on Saturday were able to meet Team Ethanol IndyCar driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay (pictured here signing autographs. The Ethanol Express with driver Scott Jensen and the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology with the Hardrocker Racing Team were also at the show for questions and autographs.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader covered the event with the article "Hitting the wall in a race car." Check out more photos from the Big Boy Toy Show on POET's Flickr page.

Leipsic grand opening speeches

Recently, we celebrated the grand opening of POET Biorefining - Leipsic, a 60 million gallon ethanol production facility in Northwest Ohio. A crowd of over 3,000 people attended the event and the line for tours of the plant stretched outside the door of the grains building. The crowd heard some excellent speeches from that you can see on POET TV. We've also posted them here:

Four local TV stations have posted their coverage of the event online: WTOL Toledo, the Ohio News Network, WNWO Toledo and Fox News Toledo. The print news coverage is linked to from our web site and more photos have been posted to Flickr.

POET Biorefining - Leipsic opens its doors

A crowd of more than 3,000 people showed up in Northwest Ohio for the grand opening of POET Biorefining - Leipsic. Pictured here is Ohio Governor Ted Strickland receiving a standing ovation from the crowd for his support of the ethanol industry in the state.

The Renewable Fuels Association said nice things to say about the event. Pictures are being posted here. Video is coming early tomorrow.

POET Glenville in the news

MinnPost.com was at POET Biorefining - Glenville East late last year to film some video of plant employees for a series this week on ethanol. The first story, which includes a nice side-bar piece on the origins of POET, can be found here. With their permission, we posted the video to POET TV and here:

The video features plant general manager Rick Mummert and Quality Manager Josh Karaus talking about the plant and how they make ethanol. POET Biorefining - Glenville East produces 42 million gallons of ethanol per year from 16 million bushels of corn. Construction will start soon on POET Biorefining - Glenville West, a 60 million gallon ethanol production facility that will be located just across the street from the existing facility.

For those unfamiliar with MinnPost.com, they are an online, non-profit news source that launched in November. PRWeek has the details.

We got Treehugged!

Treehugger, the top environmental blog and a top-20 blog overall, gave some coverage to POET last week in a post about cellulosic ethanol. The blog included POET in an interesting discussion about schedule for the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol, which they give the acronym Ceetoh. Their best guess is no sooner than 2020 for broad commercialization of cellulosic ethanol in North America.

I noticed that a couple of the other cellulosic companies had Treehugger posts at some point in the past. Maybe ours is coming soon?

Blender Pumps Gaining Momentum

One must wonder if the Optimal Ethanol Blend Study commissioned by the Department of Agriculture and the American Coalition for Ethanol discovered something new; or did it just confirm what many motorists already knew? Yesterday, Steve Miller’s story in the Rapid City Journal touted the growing number of blender pumps in South Dakota. And now today, from the Wichita Eagle, we read about a Kansas Department of Agriculture pilot project designed to allow Kansas fueling stations to install more blender pumps. As blender pumps become more common, consumers have more and more freedom to select various blends of ethanol besides E-10 and E-85. And it appears as though the motorists are confirming the findings of the Optimal Ethanol Blend Study. Or is it the other way around?

Broadcast coverage of the Energy Bill News Conference

There was significant broadcast coverage of the Energy Bill news conference we participated in with U.S. Senator John Thune, including the local affiliates of all three major TV networks. The ABC affiliate KELO piece can be found on their web site or viewed here:

KDLT, the NBC affiliate, posted a very brief recap of the event here. To launch the video, click here (link expires soon).

Peter Shinn of the Brownfield Network also attended the event. He posted a three-minute story on their web site, which you can listen to here:

For the latest print stories, visit the news page on our web site.

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 Passes

Earlier this week, President Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The law includes an expansion of the Renewable Fuel Standard to 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel by 2022.

As the largest producer of ethanol in the world, several media outlets have been calling to get our reaction to the passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Just in the past week, we've done interviews with the Chicago Tribune, Reuters, the Associated Press and many more. We also issued a statement which you can find on our web site.

But what does new law really mean? As CEO Jeff Broin laid out at a press conference with U.S. Senator John Thune today, it will lead to improvements in energy security, climate change and the nation's economy. Here's the speech from Broin:

Producing 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels will lessen our imports by 1.5 million barrels per day, an amount roughly equivalent to what we import from Venezuela or Saudi Arabia. According to the NRDC, the enacted version of the bill represents a cumulative greenhouse gas equivalent reduction of 7.5-9 billion metric tonnes by 2030. This reduction is equal to 13-19% of the cumulative 2010-2030 reductions that would be required under sweeping Lieberman-Warner climate bill. Lastly, the bill will spark a huge investment in advanced biofuels like cellulosic ethanol. McKinsey estimates that it will take 1.5% of our nation's GDP to implement the mandated provisions of the act.

For photos from the news conference with Senator Thune, click here. To read a recap from the AP, click here.

We're on the ballot!

No one at POET is running for anything, but we did show up on a ballot yesterday. That ballot is the top 10 news stories in South Dakota in 2007 from the Associated Press. Listed as one of the 23 selections for the public to vote on is:

A South Dakota company, Poet Ethanol, becomes the nation's largest ethanol producer.

Yes, they got our name wrong, but we're flattered to make the list. If you want to vote (and we're not telling you who to vote for) here's the instructions:

The results will be compiled for a story for use late this month. Please submit your votes by Dec. 18 by mail, e-mail or fax. The fax number is 605-332-3931. The bureau e-mail address is apsiouxfalls(at)ap.org. The mailing address is: The Associated Press, Box 1125, Sioux Falls, S.D. 57101.

May the best stories win!

Ethanol can increase your MPG

That's the conclusion of a study from the University of North Dakota Energy & Environmental Research Center and the Minnesota Center for Automotive Research at Minnesota State University Mankato. Their study found that many cars can get more miles per gallon with mid-level blends of ethanol than they can with regular unleaded gasoline.

The study used federally approved testing procedures on four 2007 vehicles and found that all four achieved better miles per gallon on mid-level blends of ethanol (E20, E30, E40) than was expected due to ethanol's BTU content. Three of the four vehicles actually achieved better mpg with a mid-blend than they did with regular unleaded gasoline.

Ethanol's lower BTU content is often cited in critiques of the renewable fuel. Critics will say that ethanol may cost less and have fewer harmful emissions than gasoline, but those gains are discounted by the fact that it takes more fuel to travel the same distance.

This study shows that that argument is not necessarily valid. Some cars can actually travel further on a blend of ethanol and gasoline than they can on 100 percent gasoline. Right now, E10 in Sioux Falls is selling for about $0.12 per gallon cheaper than regular unleaded. That means that consumers using a 30 percent blend could get better mpg at a significant cost savings and have fewer harmful emissions.

As ethanol supporters stated in announcing the study, more testing is needed. Soon. Let's hope that consumers have this choice at some point in the near future. To download the complete study, click here.

Waste powered ethanol plant

Yesterday, I was at POET Biorefining - Chancellor, an ethanol production facility located about 30 miles from POET's corporate headquarters in Sioux Falls, S.D. We were there to announce the installation of a solid waste fuel boiler that will replace half of the expanded plant's natural gas usage with power from burning waste wood. The installation is part of an expansion that will double the plant's ethanol production capacity to 100 million gallons per year.

(waste wood that will be used as a power source at POET Biorefining - Chancellor).

There was a substantial amount of press coverage and we'll post links to all on our web site, but I thought I'd mention a few here. Two local TV news stations attended the event and posted the video coverage on their web sites: KSFY and KTIV. The story was also picked up by Biopact, a biofuels blog that I've been reading for years. There are photos of the speakers on Flickr and speeches will be posted on POET TV soon.

Harvesting corn cobs...lots of them

One of the biggest hurdles facing the commercial production of cellulosic ethanol is the harvest, transportation and storage of cellulosic feedstock. In POET's case, that cellulosic feedstock is corn cobs...lots of them. When our commercial cellulosic ethanol facility is operational in 2011, it will require 275,000 acres of corn cobs per year.

POET began preparing for that harvest long ago and this fall we're harvesting 4,000 acres of cobs on a farm in South Dakota. We're working with agricultural equipment manufacturers to test equipment that will harvest corn cobs along with grain in a single pass without significantly slowing harvest. I posted a press release with some details here.

Yesterday we hosted several members of the press on a farm near Hurley, S.D. for a demonstration of the equipment and an update on our cellulosic project. I thought I'd post some of the early press coverage. The first is from KELO-TV, the local CBS affiliate, who ran the following clip on their station

You can read the story here. It's a good piece, but it got the equipment a little confused. The John Deere combine at the site was modified to collect co-mingled grain and cobs. The Cob Caddy is a custom machine pulled behind a combine that collects the cobs separately from the grain. With the Deere, the separation step is required, but not so with the Cob Caddy. Also, these cobs will not go to Emmetsburg as the cellulosic portion of that project will not be operational until 2011.

Next is an interview that POET CEO Jeff Broin gave to Peter Shinn of the Brownfield Network. You can read the entire piece here or listen to a clip of the interview posted below.

I'll be posting some video and audio of our own from the event as soon as I find some time for production.

POET on Forecast Earth

Tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. Central Time, POET will be featured on the Weather Channel’s special series, Forecast Earth. The program will focus on the economic impact that the POET ethanol production facility near Coon Rapids, Iowa has had on the rural town. As a preview, they've posted a video of Martha Stout, Lab Manager at the facility, explaining how ethanol is made.

Larry Ward, VP of Project Development for POET, was interviewed for the Forecast Earth special in the administration building of the Coon Rapids plant.

Racing on E85

Ethanol's high profile partnership with the Indy Racing League has shown much of the country that ethanol is a high-performance fuel. POET is a proud sponsor of the #17 Ethanol car. But the IRL aren't the only racers using ethanol. KELO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Sioux Falls ran a piece on local racers who are using E85. Here's the video:

The Racers had some great things to say about ethanol and how well it has worked for them.

POET cellulosic project discussed on Brownfield Network

Peter Shinn of the Brownfield Network interviewed Dr. Mark Stowers, Vice President of Research & Development for POET (pictured here), on Project Liberty. You can read Poet making cellulosic ethanol happen quickly or listen to the audio here:

While you're at it, be sure to check out the Brownfield Blog.

Reaction to the ethanol plant in Portland

Last week, we received a fantastic reception from the Hoosier state during the grand opening event for our newest plant in Portland, Ind. We are glad to be there and the community is genuinely glad to have us.

Several comments from the area found their way into media reports from the Friday event. An article in the Muncie Star-Press quoted several people in the area:

"This is great," Jay County resident Ralph May said while enjoying the festivities. "This is one of the best things that has happened to our city and our state in a long time. We've got something good going here."

Robert Durbin, a retired electrician from Decatur, agreed. "It's amazing that they can take a product we grow and turn it into a useful resource and not destroy our atmosphere, not discharge anything into the air or into the streams," he said. "I'm glad they are able to do this." 

Jim Bob McEwen, a Jay County farmer, said not only is the new facility great for the community and the state, "I think people who were against it in the beginning will be more welcoming as they realize it's environmentally friendly and not near as bad as they feared."

Senator Richard Lugar spoke at the event and has some great things to say about the plant and the ethanol industry as a whole. Gary Truitt at Hoosier Ag Today spoke to Senator Lugar and posted the interview here. Gary also posted an interview with Jeff Broin.

The Bluffton News-Banner interviewed POET Biorefining - Portland's maintenance manager Jeff Maddox of Montpelier, who said: I never expected the goose that laid the golden egg to land in my lap at my age.

Technorati Tags: POET, ethanol, Indiana, Portland, Lugar, Media

Senator Grassley Visits POET

Yesterday, U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) visited the Sioux Falls office of POET. The Senator wanted an update on Project LIBERTY, which is the transformation of an ethanol production facility located in Emmetsburg, Iowa into a biorefinery that produces ethanol from corn cobs and corn fiber in addition to corn starch. Senator Grassley also received a tour of the Sioux Falls office from POET CEO Jeff Broin and VP of R&D Mark Stowers, including the lab where biomass fermentations were taking place.

After the tour, the Senator (left) and Jeff Broin (right) made some time for press questions. You can read the AP article in the online version of the Rapid City Journal.

POET CEO featured on renewable energy podcast

Jeff Broin, the CEO of POET, was interviewed by Stephen Lacey for Inside Renewable Energy, a weekly podcast on renewable energy from RenewableEnergyAccess.com. In the interview, Jeff dispelled some of the myths of ethanol and talked about our cellulosic project.

If you aren't already subscribed to the show's RSS feed, go here to listen to the issue that includes Jeff Broin. Once you've listened, I'm sure you'll want to subscribe. I know I listen every week.

DTN covers POET Cellulosic Ethanol Project

Todd Neeley, the DTN ethanol reporter who updates the excellent DTN Ethanol Blog, came to Sioux Falls a few weeks ago for a story on our cellulosic ethanol project. It was the seventh in Todd's series on cellulosic ethanol. Thus the title: Cellulosic Ethanol-7.

I decided to put a link on the blog because it contains the most complete report on our project to date. For those who are seeking more information on our project, it's well worth the read.

If you're looking for more information on the cellulosic project now or in the future, you can always check out our cellulosic news page on the POET web site.

More ethanol from the same corn

As mentioned previously, we are in St. Louis for the Fuel Ethanol Workshop and it has been a busy couple of days. Yesterday, we made an announcement that POET has successfully produced cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs.

There was a fair amount of press in attendance both at the event and on a conference call line. I've posted several of the stories on our web site.

Cindy Zimmerman, who is blogging about the conference from Domestic Fuel, posted audio of POET CEO Jeff Broin making the announcement here. Later today, Dr. Mark Stowers, VP of R&D, will give an update on the cellulosic project on a panel with the director of R&D from Abengoa Bioenergy.