U.S. offers help to finance first advanced ethanol plant

Reuters
WASHINGTON Thu Jul 7, 2011 12:09pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Energy Department on Thursday provided a $105 million conditional loan guarantee to help finance the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the country.

The Iowa-based plant, which would be operated by privately-held POET LLC, would use corncobs, leaves, husks and some stalks provided by local farmers to produce up to 25 million gallons of advanced ethanol a year.

"This project will help decrease our dependence on oil, create jobs and aid our transition to clean, renewable energy that is produced here at home," said U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu.

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