DOE Offers $105 Million Loan Guarantee for POET's Project Liberty
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The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) this past week announced the conditional commitment for a $105 million loan guarantee to support development of the first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant in the U.S. Project Liberty, sponsored by POET LLC, will produce up to 25 million gal of ethanol per year and will be located in Emmetsburg, Iowa. POET estimates the project will generate approximately 200 jobs during construction and 40 permanent jobs at the plant.
Project Liberty will use corncobs, leaves, and husks as fuel sources that do not compete with feed grains. The project's process uses enzymatic hydrolysis to convert waste into ethanol, and it will produce enough biogas to power both Project Liberty and POET's adjacent grain-based ethanol plant. Project Liberty will displace more than 13.5 million gal 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 its process at 27 other corn ethanol facilities, which would have a projected combined annual capacity of one billion gal per year of cellulosic ethanol.
DOE's Loan Programs Office has issued loans or loan guarantees, or offered conditional commitments, for loan guarantees totaling more than $38 billion to support 41 clean energy projects across the U.S.
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