Poet-DSM cellulosic ethanol facility should be operating by June

Construction of a cellulosic ethanol plant in Iowa, US, is due to be finalised in the coming months and should be operating by June.

Poet-DSM, a joint operation between US ethanol maker POET and Dutch food and chemicals group DSM, cost a reported $250 million (4181.7 million) and will produce 7-12 million gallons of ethanol this year using cobs and other corn stover.

Its eventual annual production capacity will be around 25 million gallons.

Located in Emmetsburg, in the north-central part of the country's number one corn-growing state, the plant will be one of the first producers of biofuels from crop waste and one of the largest to produce it on a commercial scale.