POET Biorefining – Caro (Mich.) has eliminated wastewater discharge since installing POET’s proprietary Total Water Recovery system.

By filtering and recycling water used in the ethanol production process, the new system saves the plant and the City of Caro more than 118,000 gallons of discharged water per day. Previously, it took 3 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of ethanol at the plant. That has been cut to 2 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol.

Water leaving the plant is limited to process steam and water in byproducts such as Dakota Gold® dried distiller’s grains. The system was installed in late 2009.

“POET is serious about lowering the environmental impact of ethanol production,” POET Chief Operating Officer James Moe said. “This is a significant reduction in the amount of water used in the process, and it’s a clear example of how POET continues to devote its engineering and technical experience to making renewable fuel even better.”

Caro’s system was installed using in-house talent with engineering assistance from POET headquarters. POET Biorefining – Caro had discharged water into a deep injection well. This new technology allowed them to cap that well and lower the amount of water purchased from the city of Caro.

“There is nothing but upside in going Total Water Recovery,” POET Biorefining – Caro General Manager David Gloer said. “It was the right thing to do financially as well as environmentally.”

POET Biorefining – Caro’s upgrade is part of 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.

“Fresh water is a precious natural resource that we do our utmost to conserve,” POET CEO Jeff Broin said at the Ingreenuity launch today. “We have seen tremendous efficiency gains in the 20 years I’ve been in this business, but we can and will continue to do better.”

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 1.54 billion gallons of ethanol annually from 26 production facilities nationwide. POET recently started up 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.

# # #