EMMETSBURG, Iowa (AP) — An executive with a Netherlands-based biotechnology company has been asked to lead a joint venture that is building a new type of ethanol plant in northern Iowa.

Royal DSM, based in Delft, the Netherlands, has teamed with Sioux Falls, S.D.,-based Poet to create Poet-DSM Advanced Biofuels. The joint venture is building a plant in Emmetsburg that will make ethanol from corncobs, leaves and husks. It's expected to initially make 20 million gallons of ethanol a year.

The technology created to make the so-called "cellulosic" ethanol will be licensed to others in the industry.

Steve Hartig, a vice president with DSM, has been named general manager of the joint venture. He will be responsible for the licensing.