POET, the world’s largest producer of biofuels, will expand its ethanol production plant, POET Bioprocessing-Shelbyville, in Indiana, in March, effectively doubling the plant’s annual production capacity from 98 million gallons to 193 million gallons.
The expansion is projected to cost $203 million, according to Jason Lucas, general manager of POET Bioprocessing-Shelbyville, and is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2027.
The company said when it announced the expansion on January 7 that the upgraded facility also will double its dried distillers grains and corn oil output, add 20 new full-time employees, and increase its corn demand from area farmers by 32 million bushels a year, bringing the plant’s annual total corn processing consumption to 67 million bushels. When the expansion is complete, the plant will produce 500,000 tons of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) and 72 million pounds of corn oil.
The expansion will raise POET’s total annual production capacity to 3.1 billion gallons of ethanol, 15 billion pounds of DDGS and 1 billion pounds of corn oil.
Doubling capacity at Shelbyville
Construction of the POET Bioprocessing-Shelbyville plant began in 2018, with operations starting in May 2020. POET’s Shelbyville plant was the 28th biofuel plant in the POET network, which now numbers 35 plants.
“POET’s team has done our due diligence by monitoring long-term market trends and evaluating each of our Indiana facilities,” Lucas told Processing Journal. “POET Bioprocessing-Shelbyville is well-suited for an expansion of this size and the Shelbyville community has been supportive of the facility. The expansion will help POET meet the growing demand for biofuel and bioproducts.”
To double ethanol production at POET-Shelbyville, Lucas said that new process equipment is being added and key areas of the plant are being expanded to handle the greater volume of ethanol production. “The project is designed to increase overall capacity while maintaining the strong efficiency and reliability Shelbyville is known for,” he added.
In addition to the increase in ethanol production capacity, a permanent DDGS container loading building will be constructed to handle the additional DDGS produced by the plant.
Lucas said that POET Bioprocessing-Shelbyville’s bioproducts are marketed to local customers in Indiana as well as in international markets. Some feed ingredients are shipped to POET Terminal-Savannah, a rail-to-container transload facility that was purchased by POET in September 2022. The facility was formerly known as the Savannah Marine Terminal (SMT).
According to the Georgia Ports Authority, the Port of Savannah is the single largest container terminal in the United States. The port provides access to key global markets for POET’s animal feed products, the company said, including DDGS and corn-fermented protein from its plants. “POET Terminal-Savannah is key to ensuring maximum traceability and transparency for our customers, guaranteeing they get nothing less than the best in food safety and quality,” Lucas said.
POET’s exports to 25 countries make it the 15th-largest container exporter in the United States, and its export sales are growing, Lucas said.
Engineering the expansion in-house
POET’s in-house team designed and will manage construction of the expansion.
“The hard work and dedication of the POET team are what make this kind of growth possible,” Lucas said when the expansion was announced. “We’re proud of the work we do and grateful for the support of this community and we look forward to continue investing and delivering value for many years to come.”
Jeff Lautt, POET’s president and COO, said at the time of the announced expansion that it “reflects POET’s confidence in the future of biofuels and our commitment to American agriculture and domestic energy production. By growing this facility, we’re strengthening markets for local farmers, creating good-paying rural jobs and ensuring we can meet the growing global demand for our suite of bioproducts.”
With farmers facing low commodity prices, access to stable domestic markets for grain is essential, Lautt said. “This expansion will position POET-Shelbyville and area farmers to access new markets and emerging opportunities, including carbon capture, feed products and growing demand for E15 fuel across the U.S. New biofuel markets are a win for consumers, farmers and domestic energy. POET is positioned to meet rising demand for biofuels and bioproducts while delivering real economic benefits to rural America.”
“POET is dedicated to strengthening America’s energy and agricultural future,” Lautt added. “This expansion will play an important role as we work to grow the global bioeconomy from right here in the heartland.”
Expanding carbon capture infrastructure
In February 2025, POET said it had entered into a definitive agreement to connect its Fairmont, Neb., ethanol plant with the Tallgrass Trailblazer carbon dioxide pipeline. Terms of the agreement call for POET’s ethanol plant at Fairmont to capture carbon dioxide from the plant’s ethanol-from-corn processing operation for transportation and permanent underground sequestration in Wyoming via the Tallgrass Trailblazer pipeline.
In September 2025, POET announced it had acquired Green Plains Obion, an ethanol plant in Rives, Tenn., with an annual production capacity of 120 million gallons.
Green Plains Inc., which sold the plant to POET, said at the time of the announcement that the transaction totaled $190 million in cash, inclusive of an estimated $20 million of working capital, to be adjusted at closing.
The plant has been renamed POET Bioprocessing-Obion. The acquisition brought the number of ethanol corn processing plants in POET’s portfolio to 35 operations in nine states.
The Obion facility began production in 2008 and has an annual ethanol production capacity of 120 million gallons. The plant site consists of 230 acres and has ample corn storage and rail infrastructure, the company said when it announced the acquisition.
NASCAR partnership
NASCAR named POET its Official Bioethanol Partner and announced that it will become the first major motorsports series to utilize zero-carbon bioethanol in its race fuel blend in combination with its existing fuel partner Sunoco.
“The partnership with POET reflects our commitment to leverage our platform as a real-world proving ground for innovation,” Eric Nyquist, chief impact officer at NASCAR, said in a statement. “As the world’s largest biofuel producer, POET’s industry-leading technology will bring zero-carbon bioethanol to our Sunoco race fuel blend, helping to drive performance on and off the track for NASCAR.”
As part of the agreement, POET will sponsor the “POET Restart Zone” at all NASCAR-owned tracks, and POET branding will appear on NASCAR fuel cans alongside Sunoco.
Bioethanol’s high-octane properties enhance engine performance while contributing to lower carbon intensity and cleaner combustion, underscoring the expanding role of lower-carbon liquid fuels in both transportation and performance applications.
“Bioethanol is redefining what’s possible in racing by bringing high octane and maximum performance to the track under the most demanding driving conditions — now with zero carbon intensity,” said Jeff Broin, POET founder and CEO. “Zero-carbon bioethanol truly changes the game, and POET is proud to power a new era of high-intensity, low-carbon racing with NASCAR.”