Search Site   
News Stories at a Glance
Deere 4440 cab tractor racked up $18,000 at farm retirement auction
Indiana legislature passes bills for ag land purchases, broadband grants
Make spring planting safety plans early to avoid injuries
Michigan soybean grower visits Dubai to showcase U.S. products
Scientists are interested in eclipse effects on crops and livestock
U.S. retail meat demand for pork and beef both decreased in 2023
Iowa one of the few states to see farms increase in 2022 Ag Census
Trade, E15, GREET, tax credits the talk at Commodity Classic
Ohioan travels to Malta as part of US Grains Council trade mission
FFA members learn about Australian culture, agriculture during trip
Timing of Dicamba ruling may cause issues for 2024 planting
   
Archive
Search Archive  
   
Central Ohio welcomes POET’s 26th biorefinery

By MEGGIE I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor

MARION, Ohio — Despite the publicized economic downturn, Marion, Ohio celebrated new business, new jobs and new energy opportunities with the grand opening of a POET ethanol facility on the northwest side of town.

The central Ohio plant will produce up to 65 million gallons of ethanol per year and mark’s POET’s third ethanol facility in Ohio and 26th in the United States. For the state of Ohio, this facility serves as the state’s seventh.

“I could not be more proud of POET’s commitment to Ohio agriculture and Ohio jobs, and our nation’s national security,” said Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

“This facility, along with the plants opened in Leipsic and Fostoria, represent a critical part of Ohio’s future economy and reaffirm Ohio’s role as one of the top agricultural states and as one of the leading innovators and developers of alternative energies in the nation. POET’s commitment could not come at a more needed time for our nation’s environmental, economic and national security needs.”

Voinovich was joined onstage by POET CEO Jeff Broin, executive director of the Buckeye Renewable Fuels Assoc. Mike Wagner, Marion County Commission President Ken Frayer and Heather Zichael, policy director for energy, environment and agriculture for the Barack Obama campaign.

“Our country and our world needs this more than ever,” Broin said, directing his comment to the negative media attention received by the ethanol industry in the past year. “All ethanol including corn-based is a very good thing and we need it. And we need farmers to be part of the energy solution for America.”

According to Broin, the demand for fossil fuels is outpacing production and global warming is a growing concern.

“The status quo is not an option anymore, we need a revolution, a renewable one, and we need it now,” he commented. “It’s an excellent time to live in Marion, Ohio because you have become part of the energy solution. The ethanol that will be produced in this facility will displace over 65 million gallons of fossil fuels annually.”

According to Broin, there is enough cropland around the world to replace “100 percent of our fuel needs.” Broin also hinted at the next generation of alternative fuels, well under wraps by the POET company, through the harvest of biomass such as corn cobs, wood chips and grasses.

POET is the first ethanol company to develop and operate a small-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, with hopes that many of their corn-based ethanol facilities can be converted to produce cellulosic ethanol in the future.

The Marion biorefinery will utilize 22 million bushels of corn from farms within a 150-mile radius to produce 65 million gallons of ethanol and 178,000 tons of Dakota Gold Enhanced Nutrition Distillers Products a year. Dakota Gold, POET Nutrition’s dried distillers’ grain (DDGS) product, is a co-product of ethanol and is used as a feed alternative for livestock.

“One of my first objectives when Ohio farmers voted for the corn checkoff in 1989 was to invest in ethanol,” said Wagner, biofuels advocate and native of Marion County. “Since then, we’ve opened seven ethanol plants in Ohio, so my hat goes off to all of our farmers in the audience for helping make that dream a reality.”

According to the program emcee Larry Ward, who serves as the vice president of project development for POET, Wagner served as a big proponent in attracting the POET company to the Marion area.
“As we looked across the state for the ideal location for our next facility, Mike kept saying what about Marion, what about Marion. It was a short while later that we learned it was his hometown.”

Broin said the new POET facility will employ nearly 40 Marion-area workers with an annual payroll of $2 million.

“At a moment of such great uncertainty for America, it is heartening to see good new jobs coming to Marion. And it is even more encouraging to know that these jobs will be a part of our clean energy future,” said Obama in a statement presented by Zichael.
An innovator in biofuel production technology, the POET plant is equipped with technology that will decrease its environmental footprint and also technology that includes POET’s patent-pending BPX process that eliminates the need for heat in the cooking process of producing ethanol, reducing energy usage by 8-15 percent in comparison with conventional plants. Additionally, the plant is outfitted with a regenerative thermal oxidizer that eliminates up to 99.9 percent of air emissions from the plant.

“With 22 million bushels of corn rolling through town a year, this will truly make Marion an ag hub for the state,” said Frayer. “I’m privledged to welcome POET to our community and wish them the best of luck.”

The next milestone for POET will be the start of ethanol production at its pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, currently under construction in Scotland, S.D. The Scotland plant will begin producing ethanol from corn cobs before the end of the year. Also, work will begin in 2009 on a commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, known as Project LIBERTY, using that same technology in Emmetsburg, Iowa. POET hopes to replicate that commercial process and add it to existing corn-to-ethanol plants in the future, including the facility in Marion.

For more details, visit www.poet.com

10/29/2008