AE Biofuels Building Integrated Cellulose and Starch Ethanol Commercial Demonstration Plant
19 February 2008
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| AE Biofuels integrated cellulose/starch ethanol process. Click to enlarge. |
AE Biofuels, Inc., a company that is developing ethanol and biodiesel production in the US and India, has begun construction of an integrated cellulose and starch ethanol commercial demonstration facility in Butte, Montana.
The plant will use patent-pending Ambient Temperature Cellulose Starch Hydrolysis (ATCSH) enzyme technology to optimize process conditions for multiple cellulosic feedstocks. Non-food ethanol feedstocks used by the facility are expected to include switch grass, grass seed straw, small grain straw, and corn stalks alone and in combination with a variety of traditional starch and sugar sources. AE Biofuels expects the 9,000 square foot pilot plant facility to be fully operational in the second calendar quarter of 2008.
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| The ATSH process for starch ethanol production compared to traditional processes. Click to enlarge. |
In 2007, AE Biofuels acquired enzyme technology from Renewable Technology Corporation and formed its ethanol technology subsidiary, Energy Enzymes. The company’s enzyme technology is designed to reduce operating and capital costs for both cellulosic ethanol and starch ethanol plants and provides a platform to integrate the two processes.
AE Biofuels utilizes ambient temperature enzymes to eliminate the up-front “cooking” process that occurs in traditional starch ethanol production. The company has three patents pending for the use and implementation of its technology.
Eliminating the cooking step allows the beer from the cellulosic fermentation process to be used as the starch process water, increasing the overall alcohol concentration of the final beer and reducing water use, energy use and feedstock costs. AE Biofuels has filed patents around the ATSH enzymes and their production as well as the integration of the cellulose and ethanol processes.
The cellulose enzyme technology has proven successful in converting multiple lignocellulosic feedstocks, such switch grass, wheat grass, corn, and corn stover, the remaining corn “stalks” that are not currently being utilized as biomass, to ethanol, according to the company. The multi-activity enzymes are expected to reduce capital and operating expenditures for cellulose ethanol production.
AE Biofuels is currently evaluating sites for large-scale commercial facility construction. The company owns ethanol plant sites in Danville, Illinois and Sutton, Nebraska, each with a capacity of 100 million gallons per year, and holds options for four additional permitted ethanol plant sites in Illinois, each with a permitted capacity of 115 million gallons per year.
The company’s two Indian ethanol plants each have a capacity of 50 million gallons per year. The company plans to upgrade these by a combined 100 million gallons.
AE Biofuels also recently announced the completion of construction of a 50 million gallon per year nameplate biodiesel refinery in Kakinada, India, a port city located in the state of Andhra Pradesh on the Eastern Coast of India. The biodiesel plant is 74% owned by AE Biofuels and 26% owned by one of the world’s largest palm oil suppliers, and a Singapore palm trading company. The AE Biofuels plant is connected to the Port of Kakinada by pipeline. In addition, AE Biofuels is currently constructing a refinery and a glycerin upgrading facility to produce and market pharmaceutical grade glycerin in India.
AE Biofuels started as American Ethanol, founding shareholders of which included The Industrial Company (TIC), a subsidiary of TIC Holdings, Inc., a heavy industrial contractor with over $1.3 billion in annual revenues, and Delta-T, a leading ethanol process-engineering firm.
For those that don't know, a 9000 sqft facility is a farmyard sized test facility.
In engineering terms this is really, really tiny.
Andy
Posted by: Andy | 19 February 2008 at 10:49 AM
Is 50 million gallon a year Biodiesel small too? The location and ownership of this plant sounds very ominous - is this part of the irresponsible biodiesel industry that the EU is worried about creating with their renewable energy policies? Exported fuel is quite possibly more lucrative than domestic food supply.
It would be good to hear some commentary from someone in the know on this one.
Posted by: Tim | 20 February 2008 at 04:44 AM
50 mil gallons a year is not bad going, but its still only 3,261 barrels/day, which puts it in the realm of a medium sized oil well, but not oil FIELD.
It'd be a small facility next to a western oil refinery.
Andy
Posted by: Andy | 20 February 2008 at 10:34 AM
"...reducing water use, energy use and feedstock costs."
This is significant. With corn prices rising, fuel producers may be in a bind soon. If they can use this process to reduce the amount of water and energy used, they can be more competitive. They can use less costly feedstocks that do not have a market as food, which might keep the prices stable and reduce controversy.
Posted by: sjc | 20 February 2008 at 01:35 PM