Ethanol producer POET has completed its first corn cob collection of the year, helping to provide the feedstock for its pilot cellulosic ethanol plant in South Dakota and further out for its commercial-scale plant, the company announced yesterday.

According to POET, "[e]equipment for harvesting corn cobs was tested in fields near Harlingen, TX, from July 6 to 22. The trials were a precursor to larger harvesting efforts this fall. In all, the effort will see as many as 25,000 acres harvested in Texas, South Dakota and Iowa," the company explained.

Corn cobs are already being used by POET at its 20,000-gal./year pilot-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in Scotland, SD, and will be used at the company's first commercial cellulosic ethanol plant, Project LIBERTY, in Emmetsburg, IA. The commercial plant, which will produce 25 million gal./year of cellulosic ethanol, is scheduled to be online in 2011.

In June, POET launched a new division, POET Biomass, to manage harvest and transportation logistics for the corn cobs. To collect the corn cobs, POET is expecting to gather the feedstock within a 20-mile radius of a facility, POET CEO Jeff Broin explained in June, although in the beginning years when the feedstock may not be as plentiful, the radius may be expanded to 30 or 35 miles.

"POET will continue work with 15-20 farmers in the Emmetsburg area in further tests this fall, and will purchase cobs for use in Project LIBERTY," the company explained.

"Agriculture equipment manufacturers are putting the final touches on a variety of harvesters that will be on the market soon," said Scott Weishaar, POET's vice president of commercial development, who also leads POET Biomass. "Farmers will have a lot of ways to take advantage of corn cobs as a new revenue stream," he added.