In Emmetsburg, Iowa, America's largest maker of ethanol for motor fuel is putting the final touches on a manufacturing plant that will rely not on corn, but on the stalks and cobs left behind.
Trucks have already dropped off 2,600 tons of big bales at the Poet distillery's stack yard in the town of 3,500 people. The process is like making moonshine on an industrial scale, helped along by some high-tech, bioengineered enzymes.
Poet and its joint venture partner, the Dutch industrial giant and enzyme-maker DSM, have received $100 million in Energy Department grants and $20 million in financial incentives from Iowa. They expect to begin production of ethanol at the Emmetsburg plant early next year.