SIOUX FALL, S.D. (AP) — Sioux Falls-based Poet is getting more federal money for its effort to turn corn cobs into cellulosic ethanol.
Poet plans a $250 million plant in Emmetsburg, Iowa, that is expected to produce about 25 million gallons of ethanol per year when it opens in 2011.
The U.S. Department of Energy says it is giving Poet two funding increases — about $6.9 million this year and $13.2 million next year — to bring the department's total commitment to $100 million. Poet says the money will speed up the effort to get cob-harvesting technology into fields.
The Poet plant will be attached to its existing grain ethanol plant at Emmetsburg. Officials say it could generate as much as $10 million per year in extra income for farmers.