Posted on 06/17/2011 7:17:31 AM PDT by Free Vulcan
In Colorado, Gevo has formed a joint venture with Redfield Energy to retrofit Redfield’s existing ethanol plant into an isobutanol plant, with an expected production capacity of approximately 38 MGy.
The retrofit is expected to commence by year end 2011, and Gevo expects to begin commercial production of isobutanol at the facility in the fourth quarter of 2012. Gevo will provide the technology and capital necessary to retrofit Redfield’s existing 50 MGPY ethanol facility and, in exchange, will receive an equity interest in Redfield. Redfield owns a 50 MGPY ethanol production facility located two miles north of Redfield, SD.
The facility is a dry mill facility, which uses ICM, Inc. technology and became operational in April 2007, with the capacity to process approximately 18 million bushels of corn into ethanol per year. The plant also produces approximately 160,000 tons of modified wet and dried distiller’s grain. The cost of the retrofit was not disclosed.
I hope this is a start of a trend. Also if the rest of the products in the corn, like protein and oil, could be extracted up front, it would yield more sales while making their process even more efficient.
I like how oil and gasoline facilities are described as in thousands of barrels per day and alternative fuels are described in gallons per year.
38 million gallons per year equal 2.5 thousand barrels per day.
So, the butanol is still made from corn?
Yes.
There's a lot here that I can't see far enough ahead for, but I believe it is for the good of American energy consumption and sale.
Does it still use an ridiculous amount of water like the ethanol process does?
I don’t know, but I doubt it’s any more water than any comparable industrial process.
At least it’s a small step in the right direction. But we’re still burning food. Now if they used wood chips, weeds, metropolitan garbage, NAT GAS or COAL, then we’d have something.................
Just one more way to efficiently capture sunlight and turn it into a much needed portable fuel—the feed byproduct is rarely mentioned, so thanks for including it. I don’t know much about the combustion efficiency of this hydrocarbon, but if it really is an improvement over ETOH, I support it.
Rest assured the oil industry, especially representing the middle east, will immediately begin the attack on this fuel source.
Does your garden/yard/house use a ridiculous amount of water? I suggest you check the rainfall in SD and the midwest this year to gauge the supply and demand.
Nothing wrong with farmers doing what they please with the fruits of their labor in a free country. Last time I checked, obesity was the #1 health issue in the country.
No, not burning food. The primary use for corn till the rise of ethanol was livestock feed and fructose soft drinks. With the production of biofuels, most the carbs that would go to make soft drinks, as well as the starch and some of the broken down cellulose are fermented into fuel.
The oil and protein are then processed into DDGs or dried distillers grains, which are then fed to livestock and even people in Asia. Some ethanol plants keep the stillage (oil and unfermented carbs) out of the DDG because farmers don’t want the fat to be fed to their livestock. They want the protein.
The only loss of ‘food’ would be anything that uses the carbs. That’s primarily the soda pop industry, a loss that I’m not really going to cry over. If we extracted the oil and protein up front, we’d still get the food benefit and in my opinion put the carbs to much better use.
That's called 'food' in my neck of the woods........you know, stuff like.......beef, pork, chicken, lamb......The soft drinks I can, and do, do without...................
Yeah, and a 50 cent a gallon subsidy isn't interfering at all with that plan.......................
“No, not burning food.”
Farmers are absolutely using food for fuel, there is no other way around it.
Rachers are killing their cattle because they can’t afford to feed them, farmers are planting corn for the subsity and not planting other crops, which makes prices for all produce go up. That makes meat, fruits, and veggies go up in price, and that doesn’t leave much left as far as food goes.
The only reason we know, or think, that obesity is the number one health issue is the government tells us so. Why do they care? Because they want to control us through national healthcare and other means. Any problem they can highlight or magnify, they do. With national healthcare they then have a reason to use force to get their way.
What does it all boil down to, in this particular case? They don't like fat people and they don't want to have to look at them. Fat people destroy their idyllic world. This is from the compassionate, caring Left.
Red, you best check the subsidy list. I wager you get a gov’t check too. I would support a 25% across the board cut—nothing exclude—, but I won’t be party to the selective targeting of agriculture for cuts since they are a small voting block and non-union.
I have powers of observation and I travel considerably. I can see the obesity and I also talk to physicians.
Again, the issue is, farmers are free to sell their products for whatever purpose they so choose. I would suppport a 25% across the board budget cut of the federal gov’t but don’t support selective targeting of working farmers.
Meanwhile, back in Howscrewedupisthatland, the government demands higher mileage from cars, while demanding that the cars use fuel that reduces mileage.
That livestock feed is much better quality with the sugars and oil taken out. It’s actually a win for the farmer.
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