POET
{{Short description|American biofuel manufacturer}}
{{Distinguish|Poet}}
{{primary sources|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox company
| name = POET
| type = Private
| logo = File:POET-logo-2015.png
| industry = bioethanol
| location = Sioux Falls, South Dakota
| foundation = {{start date and age|1986}}
| key_people = Jeff Broin, Chairman & CEO
Jeff Lautt, President & COO
| operating_system =
| genre =
| divisions =
|revenue = {{increase}} $6.5 billion (2017)
| num_employees = 2,000
| homepage = {{URL|https://poet.com/}}
}}
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 {{convert|1.1|e9USgal|m3}} of fuel per year.{{Cite web|url=https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/news/local/9786427.html|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221183359/http://www.ksfy.com/news/local/9786427.html|url-status=dead |title=Local News|archivedate=December 21, 2007|website=www.dakotanewsnow.com}} POET currently produces 3 billion gallons of ethanol per year, or 19% of all ethanol produced in the United States.{{Cite news |last=Jett |first=Tyler |date=April 12, 2022 |title=What to know about Poet, the world-leading ethanol producer President Joe Biden is visiting in Iowa |work=Des Moines Register |url=http://desmoinesregister.com/story/money/business/2022/04/12/ethanol-producer-poet-worlds-largest-regular-stop-presidents-menlo-iowa-joe-biden-fuel-corn/7278625001/ |access-date=April 14, 2022}}
POET operates 34 ethanol plants spread across Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Minnesota, and South Dakota.{{cite web|title=About and also a ethanol plant in Fairmont, NebraskaPOET|url=https://www.poet.com/about/ |publisher=POET}} Among its coproducts in the process are feed ingredients such as distillers grains, syrup and corn oil,{{Cite web |title=Feed Solutions - POET |url=https://poet.com/feed |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=poet.com |language=en}} along with additional coproducts including an asphalt rejuvenator, liquified CO2 and dry ice.{{Cite web |title=Products & Services - POET |url=https://poet.com/products-services |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=poet.com |language=en}}
History
The company traces its history to a family farm owned by Lowell Broin in Wanamingo, Minnesota, which farmed corn and livestock on 1,200 acres. In 1985, Lowell and his sons built their first ethanol plant. 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.”{{cite web|url=http://www.ethanolmarket.com/PressReleaseBroin033007 |title=Broin is Poet™ |publisher=Ethanolmarket.com |date=2007-03-29 |accessdate=2010-05-01}}
The reorganization changes the following company names:
- Broin Companies –> Poet
- Broin Management –> Poet Plant Management
- Broin & Associates –> [https://poet.com/epc/ Poet Design & Construction]
- Ethanol Products –> Poet Ethanol Products
- Dakota Gold Marketing –> Poet Nutrition
- Broin Enterprises –> Poet Research Center
Its plants have been visited by President George W. Bush in Wentworth, South Dakota in April 2002, by President Barack Obama in Macon, Missouri in April 2010, and by President Joe Biden in Menlo, Iowa, in April 2022.{{Cite web |title=Remarks at a POET, LLC, Bioprocessing Facility in Menlo, Iowa {{!}} The American Presidency Project |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-poet-llc-bioprocessing-facility-menlo-iowa |access-date=2025-06-09 |website=www.presidency.ucsb.edu}}
Cellulosic ethanol
POET has constructed an $8 million pilot plant to produce cellulosic ethanol made from corn cobs and other crop residue.{{cite web |url=http://planetark.org/wen/51185 |title=World Environment News - Poet opens first cellulosic ethanol pilot plant |publisher=Planet Ark |date=2009-01-13 |accessdate=2010-05-01 |archive-date=2011-05-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521212751/http://planetark.org/wen/51185 |url-status=dead }}
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.{{cite web|title=POET and DSM to make advanced biofuels a reality by 2013|url=http://poet.com/pr/poet-and-dsm-to-make-advanced-biofuels-a-reality-by-2013|work=POET web site|publisher=POET|accessdate=19 August 2012|date=January 23, 2012}} A federal loan guarantee was obtained in July, 2011 for a commercial-scale plant to be built in Emmetsburg, Iowa.{{cite news|title=U.S. Backs Project to Produce Fuel From Corn Waste|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/business/energy-environment/us-backs-plant-to-make-fuel-from-corn-waste.html|accessdate=July 7, 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 6, 2011|author=Matthew L. Wald|quote=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. }} This loan guarantee was later declined when the joint venture with Royal DSM was announced.{{Cite web|url=http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm?Id=126688|title=Poet LLC Launches Joint Venture With Dutch Firm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217224438/http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm?Id=126688 | archive-date=2013-12-17}} Originally scheduled to open in 2013, the facility opened a year late in September, 2014.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=17851|title=Commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plant opens - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)|website=www.eia.gov}} It closed down in 2020.{{Cite news|url=http://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/story/2115367.html|title=POET-DSM commemorate historic LIBERTY opening|date=2014-09-03|work=Spencer Daily Reporter|access-date=2018-05-03|language=en|archive-date=2018-05-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504090324/http://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/story/2115367.html|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.radioiowa.com/2020/10/21/project-liberty-cellulosic-ethanol-plant-in-emmetsburg-closed/|title='Project Liberty' cellulosic ethanol plant in Emmetsburg closed|date=2020-10-21|work=Radio Iowa|access-date=2020-10-22|language=en}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poet Llc}}
Category:Alcohol fuel producers
Category:Grain companies of the United States
Category:Companies based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota