No injuries reported after explosion at Shell Rock ethanol plan

SHELL ROCK — No one was injured when an explosion at a bioethanol plant sent a fireball into the sky this weekend.

Multiple emergency agencies from Butler and Bremer counties responded to POET Bioprocessing in Shell Rock on Saturday after the boom.

Chris Showalter, the coordinator for Butler County Emergency Management, said the call came in around 4 p.m., and by the time fire crews arrived the fire “took care of itself.”

He said firefighters didn’t see open flames in the structure but went inside to hose down any potential hot spots. Crews were on scene for less than two hours.

Showalter said people were working at the plant when the blast happened, but he didn’t know how close the employees were to the facility when the explosion occurred.

The cause hasn’t been determined but the initial thought is that somehow combustible dust exploded. Showalter said POET will begin an investigation as early as Monday and that the plant still is operational.

According to the POET website, the facility produces 131 million gallons of bioethanol each year. It was acquired by POET in Jun 2021.