Research: New bioenergy yeast strain could cut costs

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DuPont lets engineering contract for Iowa cellulosic ethanol project

Oil&GasJournal
HOUSTON, July 6, 2012
by OGJ editors

DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (DDCE) let a contract to KBR for engineering and procurement services for DuPont’s first cellulosic ethanol plant, which is to be built in Nevada, Iowa.

DDCE, a DuPont subsidiary under the DuPont Industrial Biosciences Group, already produces cellulosic ethanol at a precommercial plant in Vonore, Tenn.

The Iowa plant will be designed to process 1,300 tons/day of corn cobs, leaves, and stalks to produce 27.5 million gal/year of ethanol, which would be blended into gasoline to help US fuel manufacturers fulfill federal requirements, KBR said

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Emmetsburg farmers complete 61,000 ton biomass harvest for cellulosic ethanol

RenewableEnergyWorld.com
By POET November 10, 2011

Nearly 100 farmers await BCAP funds before delivering to POET

EMMETSBURG, IOWA As part of the 2011 harvest, farmers around Emmetsburg, Iowa have baled approximately 61,000 bone-dry tons of corn crop residue. The bales of corn cobs and light stover will be delivered to a biomass storage site in Emmetsburg, where POET's commercial cellulosic ethanol biorefinery will be completed in 2013.

The harvest number represents 15 new contracts and an additional 5,000 tons above last year’s total as POET moves toward a target of 285,000 tons of biomass per year for Project LIBERTY. Project LIBERTY is POET’s 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant scheduled to come online in 2013. Early site work – including grading and construction of a second weigh station – is underway with heavy construction scheduled for 2012.

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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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DuPont ethanol plant to be built in central Iowa

Forbes.com
Associated Press, 06.28.11, 02:50 PM EDT

NEVADA, Iowa -- DuPont has chosen a central Iowa location near Nevada for its next-generation ethanol plant.

Jennifer Hutchins, a spokeswoman for DuPont ( DD - news - people ) Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol, a subsidiary of Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont, told The Des Moines Register on Monday that the plant will take 12 to 18 months to build and is expected to ready for production in 2013.

The facility will use corncobs, leaves and stalks to produce ethanol rather than kernels of corn and employ about 60 workers. DuPont Danisco is working with local farmers to get commitments for collecting cobs, leaves and stalks from their fields. The plant will need about 300,000 dry tons of stover annually, according to Hutchins.

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FARMERS NOW ALLOWED TO DELIVER BIOMASS TO POET'S CELLULOSIC ETHANOL PLANT

AgriMarketing
Jan. 28, 2011
Source: POET news release

Farmers are now delivering biomass bales to POET's 22-acre storage site in Emmetsburg, Iowa, the future home of the 25 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant dubbed "Project LIBERTY."

Area farmers harvested 56,000 tons of corn cobs, leaves, husks and some stalk this fall but had been waiting to deliver the biomass to POET while guidelines for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) were finalized. Farmers on Monday began completing the application process, and they started delivering bales soon after.

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No corn cob harvest is lesson in biomass economics

West Central Tribune (Willmar, Minn.)
Published December 08 2010

BENSON — Chippewa Valley Ethanol is leading the way in proving the technology and economics of biomass energy.
By: Tom Cherveny, West Central Tribune

BENSON — Chippewa Valley Ethanol is leading the way in proving the technology and economics of biomass energy.

This year’s lesson was all economics.

The company did not harvest corn cobs from farm fields this year due to low natural gas prices, according to Chad Friese, commodity manager for the Benson ethanol plant.

The company had harvested corn cobs in both 2009 and 2008 to test the logistics and technology of using corn cobs as a biomass energy source, as well as to learn the economics.

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Farmers start delivering biomass to area plant

Sioux City Journal.com
By Dave Dreeszen
Sioux City Journal Posted: Sunday, December 5, 2010 12:15 am

EMMETSBURG, Iowa — After it secures a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy, Poet hopes to start construction on its advanced biofuels plant in Emmetsburg next year.

The Project Liberty cellulosic plant, which produce 25 million gallons of fuel each year from corn cobs and other plant waste typically left behind in farmers' fields, is expected to take 15 to 16 months to build.

Sioux Falls-based Poet started testing the feedstock delivery system this fall, paying farmers about $40 a bone-dry ton for round bales containing corn cobs, leaves and husks, said Jim Sturdevant, director of Project Liberty. Poet has already built a biomass storage facility at the Emmetsburg site, which is already home to a traditional corn ethanol plant.

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POET, farmers prepare for first commercial biomass harvest

TruthAboutTrade.com
Monday, 13 September 2010 22:33
Brownfield Ag Network
By Ken Anderson
September 4, 2010
www.brownfieldagnews.com

The first commercial harvest of biomass for Project Liberty, POET’s cellulosic ethanol initiative, will take place this fall in northwest Iowa.

The biomass will consist of corn cobs and light stover being collected by 85 farmers in the area around Emmetsburg, Iowa. POET will use the biomass to produce cellulosic ethanol at its Emmetsburg plant, starting in early 2012.

Project Liberty director Jim Sturdevant says after experimenting with several different cob-collection methods, the farmers have settled on corn cob bales rather than loose cobs as the primary feedstock.

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Bioomass Harvest Kickoff Today At POET

Emmetsburg Reporter Democrat
POSTED: August 17, 2010

The first-ever commercial biomass harvest will be the subject of a special event today by officials of POET and Project Liberty in an event at POET’s Emmetsburg facility. Project Liberty is POET’s planned 25 million gallon cellulosic ethanol plant that will be constructed in Emmetsburg which will use corn cobs and light stover as the feedstock for the process.

Today’s event in Emmetsburg will feature remarks from several guests, including Iowa Governor Chet Culver and POET Chief Executive Officer Jeff Broin. Additional information will be presented by officials from the Idaho National Laboratories on biomass storage, the U.S. Department of Agriculture on biomass harvest incentives and ISU on soil sustainability.

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Transformative Technology: SynGest Cornucopia BioRefinery

Biofuels Digest
June 16, 2010 Jim Lane

This received from Jack Oswald, whose “Cornucopia” concept for biofuels was published earlier this year in the Digest.

I am happy to report that the launch of the SynGest Cornucopia BioRefinery model is getting traction. Since we launched the new approach as part of the keynote address to the 2010 International Biomass Conference in Minneapolis in May, 2010 (along with Till, Baby, Till), I have been interviewed several times specifically on the details. We have also had great reception at USDA with Vilsack’s Sr. Advisor corp. and on Capitol Hill. In fact, I have been asked to present to the U.S. House of Representatives House Agriculture Committee Staff as well as the ag staff of all U.S. representatives on June 22, 2010.

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US Department of Energy
Video on corn cob harvest

USdepartmentofenergy — May 04, 2010 — Cellulosic biofuels made from agricultural waste have caught the attention of many farmers and could be the next revolution in renewable biofuels production. This video shows how an innovative technology that converts waste products from the corn harvest into renewable biofuels will help the U.S. produce billions of gallons of cellulosic biofuels over the coming decade. It will also stimulate local economies and reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil.

Watch video

Corn harvest kicks off massive cob storage project

Idaho National Lab
By Nicole Stricker, INL Communications & Governmental Affairs

The 2009 corn harvest may be over, but for biomass researchers at Idaho National Laboratory, the interesting part is just beginning. Corn cobs that once had limited uses are becoming a valuable precursor to renewable fuels, and INL researchers are helping develop the logistical know-how to get cobs from fields to the biorefinery.

In partnership with the Department of Energy’s Office of the Biomass Program (DOE-OBP), a consortium that includes several equipment manufacturers, farmers, ethanol producer POET and INL have worked together to establish the largest corn cob storage study of its kind. Cobs collected during this season's harvest are being stored on Iowa and South Dakota farms and studied by INL researchers to develop recommended best practices for loose cob storage, cob baling and baled cob storage.

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Iowa approves final grant award for cellulosic project

RenewableEnergyWorld.com
January 26, 2010
Board approves final $5.25 million to POET's Project LIBERTY
By POET

SIOUX FALLS, SD --The Iowa Department of Economic Development on Thursday approved an agreement for the final $5.25 million in financial assistance to POET's Project LIBERTY, a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant that will produce ethanol from corn cobs.

"The state has shown vision and leadership in helping our nation continue down this important path to eliminate the need for dirty and imported oil." - Project LIBERTY Director Jim Sturdevant The final approval brings Iowa’s total contribution to the project to $20 million. The initial $14.75 million, from the Iowa Power Fund, was approved in February 2009. In 2008, POET and the Iowa Department of Economic Development agreed to terms surrounding the project. Approval Thursday finalized those terms.

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Researchers, economic development experts excited about potential for plant

KnoxvilleBiz.com (Knoxville, TN)
By Larisa Brass
Posted January 23, 2010 at 10:48 p.m.

At the University of Tennessee, Joe Bozell is seeking ways to make high-value chemicals used in everything from auto parts to nanotechnology from a humble blade of grass.

Switchgrass, which has received lots of attention as a source of biofuel, will become the ultimate feedstock for a biorefinery built by the state in partnership with Dupont Danisco. The demonstration plant, which initially will produce ethanol from corn cobs, started production late last year and will hold its grand opening on Friday.

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Cellulosic Ethanol Demo Plant to Open in TN

Checkbiotech.org
Friday, January 8, 2010
By Cindy Zimmerman

DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol (DDCE) and University of Tennessee/Genera Energy will hold a grand opening celebration later this month for one of the nation’s first cellulosic ethanol demo plants, located in Vonore, Tenn.

Among the featured speakers at the grand opening on January 29 will be Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, who helped with the groundbreaking for the plant in October 2008.

The facility is expected to begin producing fuel ethanol from both agricultural residue and bioenergy crops prior to the grand opening. The 74,000-square-foot facility has the capacity to produce 250,000 gallons of ethanol from corncobs and switchgrass and is preparing for commercial production by 2012.

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Grand opening set for Tenn. cellulosic ethanol plant

Ethanol Producer Magazine January 2010
Press release posted Jan. 7, 2010

Vonore, Tenn. – On Friday, Jan. 29, DuPont Danisco Cellulosic Ethanol LLC (DDCE) and University of Tennessee/Genera Energy LLC will hold a grand opening celebration for one of the nation’s first cellulosic ethanol demonstration plants, and the only one dedicated to converting both agricultural residue and bioenergy crops to fuel ethanol. The facility, located in Vonore, Tenn., has initiated start-up and commissioning and will begin producing ethanol in mid-January.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen will be an honored speaker at the event, along with other state, local, and business dignitaries. The 74,000-square-foot facility has the capacity to produce 250,000 gallons of ethanol from corncobs and switchgrass and is preparing DDCE’s innovative integrated technology for commercial production by 2012.

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Chippewa Valley Ethanol uses corn cobs

AgriNews - Minnesota and Northern Iowa
By Heather Thorstensen
Date Modified: 12/17/2009 9:57 AM

ST. PAUL -- A southwest Minnesota ethanol company will buy more than just corn from farmers. It wants their cobs, too.

Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company in Benson is using approximately 70 tons of corn cobs, wood and glycerin per day in their gasifier. They burn the gas for steam, which is used as a heat source to make ethanol.

CVEC hopes to eventually reach 300 tons of biomass per day, which would replace 90 percent of the natural gas they use with renewable sources. Currently, they're replacing 20 percent.

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Machines help move ethanol business along

AgWeek
Cole Gustafson, Agweek
Published: 11/30/2009

FARGO, N.D. — On Nov. 3, I participated in the Poet Corp.’s corn stover harvest demonstration day in Emmetsburg, Iowa.

Despite 35-degree temperatures and drizzle, it was fun to see a dozen different machines and technologies for collecting corn stover biomass for Poet’s cellulosic ethanol plant next door. All of the machines operated flawlessly, but economic implications varied considerably.

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Corn-based ethanol producer says it will soon compete with gasoline

The Washington Post
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 18, 2009; 12:16 PM

The nation's largest producer of corn-based ethanol said it has slashed the cost of producing cellulosic ethanol from corn cobs and that it will be able to compete with gasoline in two years.

POET, which currently produces 1.5 billion gallons a year of ethanol from corn, said its one-year old pilot plant has reduced the cost of making ethanol from corn cobs from $4.13 a gallon to $2.35 a gallon by cutting capital costs and using an improved "cocktail" of enzymes.

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