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Ethanol Production
Almost any kind of plant-based material can be used to produce ethanol fuel.
Epiphergy can customize a MicroFueler-based ethanol solution to accomodate your choice of feedstock(s) and installation/operating requirements. Some feedstocks are easier to use than others, but sometimes free and low-cost feedstocks (wastes, etc) can be worth a little extra trouble. Where there is free feedstock, there is low-cost ethanol fuel.
Discarded Alcohol is the easiest raw material to process since fermentation is not necessary. Simply run the MicroFueler in "Alcohol Recovery" mode. It generally takes about 20 gallons of brewery waste to produce one gallon of ethanol fuel.
Sugar is the easiest raw material to ferment since yeasts literally eat sugar to produce ethanol. It generally takes about 13 pounds of dry sugar (or equivilant) to produce one gallon of ethanol fuel. Wastewater from MicroFueler-based sugar ethanol production can be discharged directly into sewers or septic systems, making it easy to operate.
Food Wastes are often available in large quantities but they are more difficult to process than sugar alone. Most food wastes require an enzyme (or two) to help convert starch molecules into simple sugars in a seperate "saccharafication" pre-process. There will also be some residual solids remaining after fermentation.
Grains (such as corn, barley, wheat, etc) are relatively easy to process using widely available enzymes and a seperate pre-processing step. Grain-based ethanol also generates high-protein animal supplement (distillers grains) as a co-product. For example, a farm might use six to eight acres of corn (approximately 800 bushels) to produce 2,000 gallons of ethanol and seven tons of distillers grains for their animals and livestock.
Cellulosic Biomass is everywhere but it is the most dificult raw material to process into ethanol. Epiphergy is working with leading enzyme suppliers to demonstrate a MicroFueler-based cellulosic ethanol solution by the end of 2009. Our goal is to produce ethanol from grass clippings, wood chips, crop residues, etc. The required enzymes work well and are available today.
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