Poet partners with ecological restoration firm on energy grass

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Kris Bevill August 17, 2011

Poet LLC is venturing into the realm of energy grasses with a newly launched collaborative effort to establish native grasses on degraded lands in areas surrounding its 100 MMgy ethanol plant at Chancellor, S.D. The grasses, dubbed Conservation Biomass for this project due to their potential to restore and conserve degraded land, are pegged for use in the plant’s gasifier and, potentially, as cellulosic ethanol feedstock. The project is part of a deal reached with The Earth Partners, a group devoted to developing restoration solutions using bioenergy biomass sources, wherein The Earth Partners will negotiate with landowners and farmers to grow and harvest native energy grasses on marginal or degraded lands and sell some of the grasses to Poet for use in the Chancellor plant’s solid fuel boiler. Poet will also contribute some of its biomass harvest and process expertise gained through previous activities.

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