POET has a new director for their partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to construct a commercial cellulosic ethanol production facility. Jim Sturdevant has joined POET as director of Project LIBERTY following a 28-year career at EROS in Sioux Falls, the last 22 of which were spent with the U.S. Geological Survey.

As director of Project LIBERTY, Sturdevant will coordinate all efforts within POET to commercialize cellulosic ethanol. Jeff Broin, CEO of POET, said, "Due to the importance of this project to the future of POET, it is vital to have someone with Jim's leadership abilities to facilitate collaboration and communication across the organization. There's hardly a person at POET that isn't involved in this project and Jim will make sure they're all reading from the same book."

Sturdevant was born and raised in Sioux Falls, where he currently resides with his wife, an employee of Sanford Health. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in geography from South Dakota State University and a Master's degree in geography from Oklahoma State University. Sturdevant is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Leadership from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn.

The cellulosic project that POET is jointly funding with the DOE will convert an existing corn ethanol plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa into a commercial cellulosic biorefinery. Once complete, the facility will produce 100 million gallons of ethanol per year from corn and 25 million from corn fiber and corn cobs. By adding cellulosic production to an existing grain ethanol plant, POET will be able to produce 11 percent more ethanol from a bushel of corn, 27 percent more from an acre of corn, while almost completely eliminating fossil fuel consumption and decreasing water usage by 24 percent.

About POET
POET, the largest dry mill ethanol producer in the United States, is an established leader in the biorefining industry through project development, design and construction, research and development, plant management, and marketing. Formerly known as Broin, the 20-year old company currently operates 20 production facilities in the United States with seven more in construction or under development. The company produces and markets more than one billion gallons of ethanol annually. For more information, go to http://www.poetenergy.com.

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