The Department of Energy (DOE) committed itself to giving $105 million in loan guarantees to Project Liberty, an ethanol plant in Emmetsville in Iowa which produces cellulosic ethanol from field waste from corn plantations.
The project is sponsored by POET and will produce up to 25 million gallons of ethanol per year. POET estimates the project will generate around 200 jobs during construction and 40 permanent jobs at the plant. Local farmers will have a new revenue stream of around $14 million in connection with the project.
“This project will help decrease our dependence on oil, create jobs and aid our transition to clean, renewable energy that is produced here at home,” said Energy Secretary Steven Chu. “The innovations used in this project are another example of how we are seizing the opportunity to create new economic opportunities to win the clean energy future.”
The plant will use corncobs, leaves and husks as ethanol feedstock, and not grains like current corn ethanol does. The project’s process uses enzymatic hydrolysis to convert waste into ethanol and will produce enough biogas to power both Project LIBERTY and POET’s adjacent grain-based ethanol plant.
According to a DOE’s news release, Project LIBERTY will displace over 13.5 million gallons of gasoline annually and fulfill more than 25 percent of the projected 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard Requirement for biomass-based cellulosic ethanol.
POET plans to replicate their unique process at 27 of their other corn ethanol facilities, which would have a projected combined annual capacity of one billion gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol. The company estimates that 85 percent of Project LIBERTY will be sourced with U.S. content.
You should follow us here.
The use of green energy resources instead of the usual energy resources like fossil fuel is encouraged nowadays because of its advantages and benefits. If managed the right way, these green energy resources will be no doubt a great benefit to humankind by providing the energy everyone needs and not harming the world we live in in the process.