Corn Cob Farming
The first corn cob collection of 2009 is complete as POET Energy continues to work with agricultural equipment manufacturers and farmers to find the most efficient and affordable means for harvesting cellulosic feedstock, in this case corn cobs, in order to produce ethanol. Equipment for harvesting corn cobs was tested in fields near Harlingen, Texas in July. The trials were a precursor to larger harvesting efforts this fall. Mike Roth, Director of Bio-Mass Program explains how the cob harvesting works: “All of the equipment we’ve been working with is essentially towed behind the combine. So as the combine goes through the field harvesting the corn, there is a piece of machinery behind the combine that separates cob from husk and stock and leaf. So that means your grain gets separated and goes up into the grain tank on the combine. The husk and stock and leaf are deposited back on the ground and the cob goes into, not the grain tank on the combine, but on a cob bin on this cob collector.”
