World's largest ethanol producer switches from natural gas to cleaner, cheaper biomass

Some biofuel skeptics have said that the production of the fuels requires large inputs of fossil fuels, and that rising energy prices will therefor severely impact profitability. Others have said biofuel production can just as well become entirely green, when fossil inputs are replaced by renewables, some of which have become competitive with fossil energy. In Brazil this is already being done routinely by utilizing waste biomass as the primary energy source for powering the ethanol factories.

Now the world's largest ethanol producer, South Dakota based POET, announced it is switching from natural gas to biomass to power the fuel production process at one of its plants. The switch will allow the facility to double its ethanol output without increasing fossil fuel usage. This intervention doubles the renewable energy balance of the biofuel and shrinks its overall carbon footprint since biomass is cleaner than natural gas.

What is more, with rising crude oil and natural gas prices, the switch represents a 'huge savings' POET officials said.

The POET Biorefining plant in Chancellor, South Dakota, is undergoing an expansion that will increase production capacity from 50 to 100 million gallons per year. The expansion includes construction of a solid waste fuel boiler that will use woody biomass as an alternative energy source that will generate enough steam to produce more than half of the expanded plant's power needs. The boiler system is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2008. Mueller Pallets of Sioux Falls will supply the woodchip fuel for the boiler.

Poet's Chancellor plant plans to use 150 to 350 tons of waste wood per day, which it will store in one of two onsite storage bins. A reclaiming system will pull it out of the silos and into the solid waste fuel boiler, a box measuring about 70 feet tall, 20 feet wide and 15 feet deep. The heat will be used to boil water to make steam. The steam travels through a pipe into the plant, where it will replace up to 60 percent of the natural gas previously used to power the production process.

The solid waste fuel boiler will allow us to double our production capacity without increasing our natural gas usage. We will be reducing our operating costs by using a green fuel source to produce a domestic, green transportation fuel for America. - Rick Serie, General Manager of POET Biorefining - Chancellor

Waste wood from pallets, construction sites and area landfills will be the primary biomass fuel source for the solid waste fuel boiler. POET Biorefining - Chancellor has contracted with Mueller Pallets of Sioux Falls to provide the 150-350 tons of wood per day. The company, long a recycler of used transport pallets, has increased operations to accommodate POET's woodchip needs. Not only has Mueller begun acquiring and grinding waste wood from area landfills, but the company is also reaching out to tree services companies, contractors and other private sources to acquire and re-cycle waste wood at no charge to the providers.

It's a win-win situation. By recycling instead of disposing of waste wood, companies, cities and towns in the region will together save hundreds of thousands of dollars in landfill costs yearly. And while saving raw materials from disposal, the fuel product we process will help reduce the need for natural gas. - Margie Mueller, president of Mueller Pallets

POET Alternative Energy Engineer Jim Geraets said the solid waste fuel boiler will be outfitted with state-of-the-art pollution control equipment that exceeds state and federal standards and continuously monitored. Ethanol is one of the best tools we have to fight pollution from vehicles, Geraets says, and at POET we're always looking for ways that we can make the ethanol production process even more environmentally-friendly:
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Poet will evaluate the pilot project and says it would expand it to its other plants if it is proven to be successful.

POET Biorefining - Chancellor started operations in March, 2003. Last year, the facility produced 51 million gallons of ethanol and 160,000 tons of Dakota Gold Enhanced Distillers Nutrition products. The facility is in the midst of an expansion that will increase the production capacity to 100 mgpy. Construction on the expansion is expected to be completed in Q1 2008 and the solid waste fuel boiler is expected to be complete in Q3 2008. The construction will necessitate the hiring of approximately 20 additional employees for the facility, which is already the largest employer in the town.

POET, the largest ethanol producer in the world, is an established leader in the biorefining industry through project development, design and construction, research and development, plant management, and marketing. Formerly known as Broin, the 20-year old company currently operates 21 production facilities in the United States with six more in construction or under development. The company produces and markets more than 1.1 billion gallons of ethanol annually.

Picture: waste wood from the local industrial and forestry sector will be the biomass source used to power POET's Chancellor biorefinery. Credit: POET.

References:
POET: POET to power ethanol plant expansion with alternative energy source - November 15, 2007.