|
Sustainability
How does fractionation aid an ethanol plant’s sustainability?
Fractionation’s key economic benefit is in the way it mitigates volatility in both the corn and ethanol markets. Either of those conditions can create havoc in margins. There are only two things you can do about them: cut costs or increase revenues.
Fractionation does both. The production savings and new revenue both produce more profit.
Back
Reducing Cost
How does fractionation reduce costs?
Corn is the largest expense of an ethanol plant. It’s not only costing more with higher corn prices. But it’s actually costing the ethanol plant as much as 30 percent more than necessary if it is not fractioning its corn.
Back
Reducing Inefficiency
How do you arrive at 30 percent?
Nearly 20 percent of the corn kernel – that’s the amount of corn germ and bran – does not ferment. If you’re hammer milling your ethanol plant’s feedstock, you’ve given up the value of those components. But worse, is the inefficiency and expense you impose on your process. Bran absorbs as much as four times its weight in water; that can add as much as ten percent to the plant’s drying costs. With bran and germ in it, the plant’s slurry contains more solids. It’s more viscous, and that can mean more plugging and maintenance. And you’ve diluted the amount of starch. There’s more that could be added, but you probably get the picture.
Back
Higher Production
How much more ethanol does fractionation deliver?
Corn germ and bran make up nearly 20 percent of the corn kernel. If it’s separated so that its value can be captured in demanding
markets, it means that a proportionate amount of capacity is now available to produce more ethanol and without the plugging and related maintenance the conventional plant can experience.
Back
So that means more ethanol?
Yes, as much as 20 percent more.
Back
But won’t that take more corn?
It will, but that means 20 percent more ethanol for sale and an increase in co-products. That’s more net income. That’s sustainability.
Back
Co-Products
What are the co-products and what are their values?
Let us make a couple of points here. Markets have not fully developed for fractionation’s co-products. Although they are bringing premium prices, they will grow in value as more product is placed on the market. Here’s why:
Before committing to the value of co-products, markets will want to make sure of quality, quantity, reliability and consistency. For example, even if a nutritionist likes the high protein found in fractionation-generated meal, he or she will want to make sure there’s a reliable and consistent supply. He or she won’t like to see changes in that stream, which would result in continuing reformulation of the feed. (For more read former CPT President Will Duensing’s presentation to the International Distiller’s Grains Conference.)
To look at how the market is actually valuing today’s co-products from fractionation, click here.
Back
Germ Values
How does fractionation make corn germ more valuable?
Quite simple. It captures it ahead of the ethanol plant. Mother nature made it a most valuable part of the corn kernel. We ask, why waste it? Corn germ has important high- and low-tier markets. Its oil is low in trans-fats making it important to the higher demand edible oil market. Oil also finds a market in the lower side, such as the biodiesel market.
Back
Bran Values
What are the values in bran?
At 8100 BTUs per pound, bran has as much energy as coal. That makes it a valuable resource in feed and energy markets. If one considers that natural gas costs are the second highest expense for the conventional ethanol plant, the high-energy bran available through fractionation can cover as much as 80 percent of an ethanol plant’s energy requirement.
Back
What other uses does bran have?
Bran can absorb up to four times its weight in water. That makes it a good agent for carrying syrup, another byproduct of ethanol production, to make a ruminant animal feed. Add the de-oiled germ, and you have the ingredients for a hominy feed.
Back
|
