High Speed/Low Effluent Process for Ethanol

n this project, BPI demonstrated a new ethanol fermentation technology, termed the High Speed/ Low Effluent (HS/LE) process on both lab and large pilot scale as it would apply to wet mill and/or dry mill corn ethanol production. The HS/LE process allows very rapid fermentations, with 18 to 22% sugar syrups converted to 9 to 11% ethanol ‘beers’ in 6 to 12 hours using either a ‘consecutive batch’ or ‘continuous cascade’ implementation. This represents a 5 to 8X increase in fermentation speeds over conventional 72 hour batch fermentations which are the norm in the fuel ethanol industry today. The ‘consecutive batch’ technology was demonstrated on a large pilot scale (4,800 L) in a dry mill corn ethanol plant near Cedar Rapids, IA (Xethanol Biofuels). The pilot demonstrated that 12 hour fermentations can be accomplished on an industrial scale in a non-sterile industrial environment. Other objectives met in this project included development of a Low Energy (LE) Distillation process which reduces the energy requirements for distillation from about 14,000 BTU/gal steam ($0.126/gal with natural gas @$9.00 MCF) to as low as 0.40 KW/gal electrical requirements ($0.022/gal with electricity @$0.055/KWH). BPI also worked on the development of processes that would allow application of the HS/LE fermentation process to dry mill ethanol plants. A High-Value Corn ethanol plant concept was developed to produce 1) corn germ/oil, 2) corn bran, 3) ethanol, 4) zein protein, and 5) nutritional protein, giving multiple higher value products from the incoming corn stream

IMPACTS Results Summary for CY 2010

Working in partnership with industry, the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) is helping reduce industrial energy use, carbon emissions, and waste while boosting productivity and economic competitiveness. Operating within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), ITP conducts research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) projects and technology transfer activities that are producing substantial benefits to industry and helping the nation to address some of its biggest challenges in the areas of energy security and environmental performance. This document summarizes some of the impacts of ITP’s programs through 2010. The selection of 2010 as the timeframe for this report recognizes the fact that it takes at least two years to gain a full perspective on program performance and to assess the results of commercialization efforts for the technologies and practices at issue