Corn cobs advance as US ethanol feedstock – POET

27 February 2008 19:55  [Source: ICIS news]

ORLANDO, Florida (ICIS news)--US firm POET Energy is pioneering a cellulosic process using corn cobs as feedstock that could ultimately produce up to 5bn gal/year of ethanol nationwide, a company official said on Wednesday.

POET has the ultimate goal of building a $200m (€134m) plant in Emmitsburg, Iowa, that would serve as a technology model to be later incorporated into POET's 22 existing plants, said Jeff Lautt, POET's executive vice president for corporate operations.

The Emmitsburg plant would produce 125m gal/year of ethanol from first-generation technology, and another 25m gal/year from the cob-fed cellulosic process, Lautt told the National Ethanol Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Many cellulosic projects have focused on using corn stover – which includes the stalks and the leaves of the plant – rather than just employing the cob, which has twice the bulk density of stover.

POET is collaborating with agricultural equipment makers, including John Deere and CASE, to develop harvesting equipment to efficiently recover the cobs alongside the corn kernels.

Currently, the cobs are typically discarded as a harvester moves over a corn field.

POET conducted 100 experiments on cob retrieval while harvesting 4,000 acres in 2007. Further tests are planned for 2008.

($1 = €0.67)

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By: Stephen Burns
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