Wastewater discharge at POET Biorefining – Alexandria (Ind.) will soon drop significantly thanks to cutting-edge technology known as Total Water Recovery.

By late August or early September, the new system will be filtering and recycling water used in ethanol production. It will eliminate about 93,000 gallons of discharged water per day, making the plant even more environmentally friendly and conserving valuable water resources for the city of Alexandria and other area residents.

Currently, POET Biorefining – Alexandria uses 3.18 gallons of water to make 1 gallon of ethanol. After installation of POET’s technology, that will be dropped to 2.62 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol.

“POET engineers and scientists are constantly testing new ways to make ethanol production even better, and it’s great that we have the opportunity to take advantage of that and make these upgrades,” General Manager Dave Hudak said.

The plant will seek to amend its water permit to allow for cleaning updated systems and in case of emergencies.

The Total Water Recovery installation at POET Biorefining – Alexandria is the latest step in a company-wide sustainability initiative called “Ingreenuity.” The first goal of Ingreenuity is to cut water use at POET plants by a total of 1 billion gallons over the next five years, a 22 percent reduction.

About POET
POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world, is a leader in biorefining through its efficient, vertically integrated approach to production. The 22-year-old company produces more than 1.6 billion gallons of ethanol and 9 billion pounds of high-protein animal feed annually from 26 production facilities nationwide. POET also operates a pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant, which uses corn cobs as feedstock, and will commercialize the process in Emmetsburg, Iowa. For more information, visit http://www.poet.com.

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