Poet’s South Dakota biorefining plant surpasses billion gallon ethanol milestone

US ethanol giant Poet’s biorefining facility in Chancellor, South Dakota, reached a production milestone of 1 billion gallons of high-quality ethanol in 2016.

According to the company, this places the facility at the vanguard of a rapidly-growing biofuels sector in the US.

The facility was also the first Poet plant to hit 500 million gallons, a benchmark achieved in 2011.

“Our team in Chancellor does a fantastic job and has been very aggressive in driving efficiency and optimizing operations since plant first opened in 2003,” said Poet CEO Jeff Broin.

He added: “We have expanded the plant, and with innovation and hard work the team is now producing 110 million gallons of ethanol annually at this plant, creating a highly important local market for corn and adding over $185 million to the South Dakota GDP. This is a remarkable milestone, and I congratulate all 64 of our team members at the plant on leading the charge in American biofuel production.”

Poet Biorefining – Chancellor lies on a 135-acre site about 5 miles west of Lennox and approximately 20 miles southwest of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The plant uses more than 100,000 bushels of corn per day and is equipped with cutting-edge technologies, allowing the facility to use green energy derived from solid waste and methane gas from the nearby Sioux Falls city landfill.

“We’ve more than doubled production at this plant since it first opened over a decade ago,” said Chancellor general manager Dean Frederickson.

He added: “Our team members are proud of the role we play in the community, serving farmers from eight surrounding counties and driving growth in the state’s manufacturing and agricultural sectors. We look forward to the next billion gallons, and what it will mean for the community, drivers and US energy security.”

In a statement, Poet said: “Thanks to facilities like Poet Biorefining – Chancellor, the U.S. kicked off 2017 with the highest weekly ethanol production on record – more than one million barrels per day, according to the US Energy Information Administration.”