POET in talks to buy Flint Hills Resources’ Iowa ethanol plants

Sioux Falls, S.D.-based biofuels company in ‘exclusive negotiations’ with Koch subsidiary

May. 25, 2021 5:45 am

A grain truck unloads at Flint Hills Resources in Shell Rock in December. (Andy Abeyta/The Gazette)

Wichita, Kan.- based Flint Hills Resources is in “exclusive negotiations” to sell its biofuels business to POET, including its five Iowa ethanol plants, according to a Monday news release from Flint Hills.

The five Iowa ethanol plants — located in Fairbank, Shell Rock, Iowa Falls, Menlo and Arthur — and its one Nebraska facility combined produce more than 1.5 million tons of distillers grains and about 200 million pounds of distillers corn oil each year, according to the news release.

POET, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., has Iowa locations in Ashton, Coon Rapids, Corning, Emmetsburg, Gowrie, Hanlontown and Jewell, according to its website.

Flint Hills, a wholly owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, has about 4,000 employees.

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