POET

POET LLC is a U.S. biofuel company that specializes in the creation of bioethanol. The privately held corporation, which was originally called Broin Companies, is headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In 2007, the Renewable Fuels Association named POET the largest U.S. ethanol producer, creating 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of fuel per year.[1] Currently, POET produces 1.8 billion gallons of ethanol per year. [2]

Not to be confused with Poet.
POET
TypePrivate
Industrybioethanol
Founded1986
HeadquartersSioux Falls, South Dakota
Key people
Jeff Broin, Chairman & CEO Jeff Lautt, President & COO
Revenue $6.5 billion (2017)
Number of employees
2000
Websitewww.poet.com

POET operates 27 ethanol plants spread across Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Minnesota, and South Dakota.[3] In 2007, the company received a US$80 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for the creation of a cellulosic ethanol production facility in Emmetsburg, Iowa. A grand opening was held for the facility on September 3rd, 2014. It is expected to produce 25 million gallons of ethanol per year from corncobs, leaves and husks provided by farmers in and around the area.[4]

POET has also collaborated with other companies, including Deere & Co. and Vermeer Company, to develop manufacturing equipment for harvesting corn cobs used in ethanol production.[5] Among its coproducts in the process are distillers grains branded Dakota Gold,[6] Inviz,[7] an asphalt rejuvenator branded Jive,[8] and a corn oil branded Voila.[9]

History

The company traces its history to the family farm in Wanamingo, Minnesota where the Broins began producing ethanol in 1983. In 1986 it became commercial launching its flagship plant in Scotland, South Dakota in foreclosed ethanol plant under the corporate name Broin Farms which became Broin Companies.

In 2007, it was renamed POET. Then company president Jeff Broin said the new name is not an acronym. He said, “We wanted a name that would represent, rather than describe, who we are and what we do...As a poet takes everyday words and turns them into something valuable and beautiful; we use creativity that comes from common sense to leave things better than we found them.”[10]

The reorganization changes the following company names:

  • Broin Companies –> Poet
  • Broin Management –> Poet Plant Management
  • Broin & Associates –> Poet Design & Construction
  • Ethanol Products –> Poet Ethanol Products
  • Dakota Gold Marketing –> Poet Nutrition
  • Broin Enterprises –> Poet Research Center

Its plants have been visited by George W. Bush in Wentworth, South Dakota in April 2002 and by Barack Obama in Macon, Missouri in April 2010.

Cellulosic ethanol

POET has constructed an $8 million pilot plant to produce cellulosic ethanol made from corn cobs and other crop residue.[11]

A commercial scale project, based on the pilot plant, was undertaken as a joint venture with Royal DSM under the name POET-DSM Advanced Biofuels, LLC.[12] A federal loan guarantee was obtained in July, 2011 for a commercial-scale plant to be built in Emmetsburg, Iowa.[13] This loan guarantee was later declined when the joint venture with Royal DSM was announced.[14] Originally scheduled to open in 2013, the facility opened a year late in September, 2014.[15]

References
  1. “Poet Nation's Top Ethanol Producer,” KSFY.com/Action News, September 14, 2007 Archived December 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  2. POET Founder, Chairman and CEO Jeff Broin to Receive 2017 BIO George Washington Carver Award. Business Wire, May 25, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017
  3. "What is POET?". POET.
  4. Dreeszen, Dave (24 July 2011). "Seven Questions about Project Liberty". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  5. “Manufacturers perfect corn cob harvesters,” Biomass Magazine, October 20, 2008
  10. "Broin is Poet™". Ethanolmarket.com. 2007-03-29. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  11. "World Environment News - Poet opens first cellulosic ethanol pilot plant". Planet Ark. 2009-01-13. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  12. "POET and DSM to make advanced biofuels a reality by 2013". POET web site. POET. January 23, 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  13. Matthew L. Wald (July 6, 2011). "U.S. Backs Project to Produce Fuel From Corn Waste". The New York Times. Retrieved July 7, 2011. The Energy Department plans to provide a $105 million loan guarantee for the expansion of an ethanol factory in Emmetsburg, Iowa, that intends to make motor fuel from corncobs, leaves and husks.
  14. Poet LLC Launches Joint Venture
  15. Commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant opens
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