Iowa corn stover-to-ethanol plant nears operation

The DuPont cellulosic ethanol facility, one of the first and largest commercial-scale cellulosic biorefineries in the world, will begin ethanol production later this year.

It is expected to produce 30 million gallons of biofuel per year from corn stover.

DuPont will contract from 450 to 600 local farmers to gather, store and deliver over 375,000 dry tonnes of stover per year into the Nevada refinery.

This is the first plant to work with the US Department of Agriculture to promote sustainable harvesting of bio-based feedstocks for cellulosic ethanol production.

Research in partnership with Iowa State University's BioCentury Research Farm has enabled the company to understand more about the production, harvest and transportation, storage and processing of the product.

DuPont began the project in 2010 with the harvest of corn stover from 2,000 acres, which then increased to 60,000 acres last autumn, producing more than 170,000 large square bales.