POET Biorefining – Hanlontown receives “Shining Star Volunteer Award”

Mason City, Iowa honored POET Biorefining – Hanlontown at an awards luncheon last week with the mayor and city council.

Mason City Mayor Eric Bookmeyer honored the plant with the “Shining Star Volunteer Award ” for the many ways they reach out to their surrounding communities.

Over the last year, the plant donated time and equipment to paint a railroad bridge, paint and clean along the city trails, and many team members were regular volunteers at the community kitchen.

In a North Iowa Today article, General Manager Kelly Hanson said, “We did not expect this honor and it certainly is not why we volunteer, but we certainly appreciate the award.”

Congratulations to the Hanlontown crew for making the plant such an important part of the surrounding area!

 

Technorati Tags: Hanlontown,POET,ethanol,volunteering,award,Mason City

Vilsack, Strickland visit POET Biorefining – Marion

Today, POET Biorefining – Marion (Oh.) hosted a visit from Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the U.S. Agriculture Department, and Ted Strickland, Governor of Ohio. The two elected officials were joined by leaders from the Ohio Corn Growers Association, the Ohio Ethanol Producers Association, the FSA and the NRCS.

The group discussed the future prospects for ethanol and agriculture as well as the need to provide greater market access for ethanol. POET CEO Jeff Broin thanked Secretary Vilsack and Governor Strickland for their support of the ethanol industry and both noted the important role that biofuels play in rural America. After voicing a concern for the Midwest where he once served as the Governor of Iowa, Vilsack noted that “biofuels and renewable energy are at the heart of how you restore rural America.”

Both elected officials reiterated their support for moving to E15, which Secretary Vilsack was confident the EPA would allow later this year. The Secretary also talked about how crucial it was to increase the availability of blender pumps that allow consumers to choose their blend of ethanol.

Following the discussion, Broin was joined by plant Manager David Brooks to guide the group on a tour of the facility. POET Biorefining – Marion produces 68 million gallons of ethanol per year, almost all of which is used in the state of Ohio.

More from Feedstuffs.

Pictured (l to r) Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and POET CEO Jeff Broin. To view more photos from the event, go to our flickr page.

House Ag Committee Visits POET

POET Biorefineries have been a popular tour location for members of our nation's governing body in the past few weeks. Last week, members from the U.S. House Agriculture Committee visited POET Biorefining - Chancellor.

Several topics were covered on the tour from ethanol production to the advancement of cellulosic technology. A big interest for members outside the Corn Belt was the economic boost that jobs from cellulosic ethanol production could bring to their districts.

Pictured from left to right are: Darrin Ihnen, President of the National Corn Growers and board member of POET Biorefining - Chancellor; Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin of South Dakota; Ag Committee Chairman Collin Peterson of Minnesota; POET CEO Jeff Broin; Rep. Mike Conaway of Texas; Rep. Adrian Smith of Nebraska; Rep. Travis Childers of Mississippi; Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama; Rep. Glenn Thompson of Pennsylvania; Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia.

More photos are available on POET's Flickr page.

Sioux Falls fuel station installs blender pumps

Sioux Falls has blender pumps!

The Kings Mart on the corner of Cliff Avenue and Benson Road here in Sioux Falls is just a little more than a mile from the POET headquarters. They had the new pumps installed Jan. 11, and I stopped by recently to top off my tank and see how the transition is going.

This, folks, is the future of the fuel station, and this is one big step closer to an open fuel market. People can pull up to the station and choose for themselves: E0, E10, E30 or E85.

I talked briefly with owner Doc Wang about the change.

“We wanted a little more business, so I was looking for something different,” he said. “And South Dakota is ethanol friendly.”

The hope, of course, is that someday soon blender pumps will not be “something different;” rather they will be the norm. However, as an early adopter, I’m sure Wang will get an ethanol bump from his purchase.

I’ve never understood the argument that offering higher blends of ethanol will cause mass confusion amongst the general public. People know the difference between regular and premium gasoline today, for instance. No one looks at a pump and assumes each option distributes an identical product.

Wang said his customers have handled the transition well.

“Maybe a couple people were confused at first, but not many,” he said.

The pumps are clearly labeled, and the higher ethanol blends have a yellow handle instead of a black one.

Thanks to Wang for being the first to take that important step. It’s never easy to blaze the trail, but his station will be a model for those that follow.

Technorati Tags: ethanol,blender pump,Sioux Falls,flex fuel,fuel station

Global Potential Side Event Underway!

The Global Potential of Biofuels side event at COP15 is now underway! POET CEO Jeff Broin is the first to make comments. The full transcript of his introductory comments are in the pdf document. As to the title of the event, the potential of biofuels, Broin said: "I believe the potential is virtually limitless. There is tremendous potential to continue to improve agriculture and biofuel production processes to further reduce emissions. With the vast amount of biomass around the world, there is enormous potential to displace fossil fuels with clean and green renewable energy. And through biofuel production, we have the wonderful potential to create good green jobs, and revitalize rural areas throughout the world.

And best of all, we don’t have to wait. Biofuels are here and they’re now."

Download now or preview on posterous

Jeff Broin Comments.pdf (25 KB)

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In the Bella Center!

Amazingly, we made it into the Bella Center, site for COP15, very easily this morning - nothing short of a miracle. Security is very tight. Thousands have been waiting outside for hours. We heard that protesters may be planning to storm the event later today. Here's Gen. Clark, Jeff Broin and Fleming Voetmann. The Global Potential of Biofuels event takes place later today in the area in the back part of the photo.

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Novozymes tour

At a production facility of the world's largest producer of enzymes, Novozymes.

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Inbicon Visit

We visited Inbicon this morning. Their impressive demonstration cellulosic ethanol plant is located a little over an hour west of Copenhagen. Pictured here with Jeff are Inbicon and Novozymes executives and representatives from Brazil and China. POET and Inbicon can both attest that cellulosic ethanol is here and now.

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Workshop on Ethanol Technology & Research at POET today

As was noted in the previous post, POET is hosting the first day of the BIOFUELS JOURNAL 2nd Annual Commercial Ethanol Technology and Research Workshop at our headquarters in Sioux Falls. Attendees have started registering as you can see in this photo of POET's Chief Science Officer Steve Lewis.

We will be posting photos in the Biofuels Journal Conference set on Flickr as well as updates here and on Twitter. Feel free to follow along and leave comments or questions below.

Moving a mountain of woodchips

After months of construction, the delivery system for POET Biorefining – Chancellor’s solid waste fuel boiler is up and running.

I had the chance to check it out this week during a visit, and it’s impressive.

A large building stores a mountain of wood chips. Each day 150-300 tons of biomass are sent up a conveyor to feed the five-story tall boiler. Although the building is large, it only holds enough biomass for three days of operation.

When you combine the biomass power with methane piped in from the Sioux Falls Regional Sanitary Landfill, enough energy is produced to handle all the plant’s energy needs for steam generation. It offsets 65 percent of the total natural gas use, including that for drying the DDGS. That number will increase as more gas is generated at the landfill.

A peek inside the boiler showed some ferocious flames; my photo doesn’t do it justice. Check out a series of pictures at POET’s Flickr page.