Wednesday, June 5, 2013
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (June 5, 2013) – POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels’ new Business Development Manager will be meeting with ethanol producers to discuss licensing options for commercializing cellulosic ethanol, starting at next week’s Fuel Ethanol Workshop in St. Louis, Mo.
Kevin Potas recently joined the POET-DSM team and is responsible for outlining licensing options for the company’s turnkey cellulosic-ethanol process and technology package with interested grain-ethanol producers. POET-DSM’s Project LIBERTY is under construction in Emmetsburg, Iowa, and will begin operation in early 2014, producing 20 million gallons of cellulosic bio-ethanol from corn cobs, leaves, husks and some stalk. The plant will later ramp up to its 25 million-gallon capacity.
“Kevin comes to POET-DSM with a strong background in sales management and a proven track record of customer relationship building,” said Steve Hartig, General Manager of Licensing for POET-DSM. “His results-oriented work ethic and team focus will add to the success of our licensing activities.”
Potas joins POET-DSM after 17 years with Johnson & Johnson in the pharmaceutical industry, where he most recently led a team of nine district managers across five states. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, Potas was with Visscher Management for five years, where he directed operations, sales and public relations.
“The people who built the grain-ethanol capacity in today’s marketplace are real pioneers in energy production, and I look forward to working with them to expand our worldwide sources for renewable fuel,” Potas said. “It’s exciting for me to have a role in helping spread this revolutionary process and technology across the world.”
Potas is based in Sioux Falls, S.D. He can be reached at (605) 275-2079 or kevin.potas@poet-dsm.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 U.S. 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. For more information, visit: www.poetdsm.com.