EMMETSBURG, IOWA (Oct. 24, 2013) – Farmers are now harvesting and delivering cob bales for the 2014 opening of Project LIBERTY in Emmetsburg, Iowa.

Project LIBERTY is POET-DSM’s 20 million-gallon-per-year cellulosic bio-ethanol plant under construction today. The facility will use corn crop residue – cobs, leaves, husk and some stalk – to produce renewable fuel.

Farmers for the 2013 harvest season already have started delivering bales to the plant’s 22-acre stackyard. Although POET-DSM, the industry leader in biomass collection and management, has organized four previous commercial-scale harvests in the past that have brought in nearly 200,000 tons of feedstock, this year’s bales will for the first time be used to produce cellulosic bio-ethanol at the plant’s startup.

“Half of our biomass stackyard is filling up with cob bales for ethanol production,” Project LIBERTY General Manager Daron Wilson said. “Things are going smoothly. Our advance work over the last few years on feedstock logistics is paying off.”

Crop residue represents a new market for farmers that provides additional revenue with minimal input costs. It does not require any additional planting, and crop residue can be harvested with a standard baler. Nutrient replacement at POET-DSM’s suggested rate of removal – approximately 1 ton per acre or 25 percent of the above-ground biomass – is minimal.

“It’s been an easy way to diversify my farm operation and incorporate some much-needed crop residue management into the harvest,” said local farmer Charlie Kollasch. “This has been an important business opportunity for our area.”

POET-DSM intends to purchase approximately 100,000 tons from this year’s harvest to handle start-up and continuing operations through the 2014 harvest.

B-roll footage of biomass harvesting is available for media use at:
http://poetdsm.com/resources/docs/poet-harvest-broll.zip.

POET-DSM is now hiring multiple positions for Project LIBERTY. For a full list of open positions, visit poetdsm.com/employment. For more information and photos of Project LIBERTY construction, visit poetdsm.com.

About POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels, LLC

POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels, LLC, is a 50/50 joint venture between Royal DSM and POET, LLC. Based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the company is a cooperative effort of two innovators that provides a key to unlocking the opportunity of converting corn crop residue into cellulosic bio-ethanol. Built on the strengths of both companies, the joint venture has a critical mission: to make cellulosic bio-ethanol competitive with corn bio-ethanol, the most competitive renewable liquid transportation fuel on the US market today. Drawing on the deep expertise and experience of POET and DSM in different areas of converting cellulosic biomass into bio-ethanol, POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels will have its first commercial-scale plant co-located with POET Biorefining – Emmetsburg in Emmetsburg, Iowa. Based on this plant, the JV plans to globally license an integrated technology package for the conversion of corn crop residue to cellulosic bio-ethanol. More information: www.poetdsm.com