How to Set Up a Farm Scale Ethanol Plant

24 Feb 10

A Nigerian based company wanted to set up a local ethanol or methanol plant using locally sourced feed stocks. They sought help from ManufactureLink using their Technology Finder service. Technology Finder is a service from ManufactureLink that anyone can access to use ManufactureLink's vast expertise in finding technological solutions. The client was interested in locating Australian companies who could assist in setting up a plant in Nigeria.

Firstly it was determined that for a methanol plant, the typical feedstocks are wood chips and in some cases, methanol gas of a particular quality. The production process for a methanol plant produces some of the most toxic substances known to man such as acetone. As such, the location of even a small scale ethanol plant can attract protests from environmental groups and concerned locals.

Due to the large amount of feedstock required and the storage requirements for the methanol distilling process, a methanol plant is typically quite large in size.

The requirements for a pilot scale methanol plant were given to the client first and they quickly ruled out setting up to produce methanol.

Farm Scale Ethanol Plants

Ethanol on the other hand can be produce far more simply from a wide variety of feedstocks. The most common feedstocks are sugars, starches, cellulose and biomass (food or plant waste). Cellulose is quite new and not that commercial as yet (ethanol from wood chips).

In Australia, the only ethanol plants that have been developed are larger scale plants using either sugar (molassas), grain or wood chips as the feedstock. There is one potentially being developed in the Northern Territory using cassava as a feedstock.

The lowest cost for any of the plants developed here we saw was around AUD$50 million. Generally a large plant is required due to the volume of feedstock required to produce a commercial quantity and the fact that the produced liquid needs to be stored in various tanks as it goes through distilling and refining. Each plant is purpose designed for the type of feedstock and required throughput.

We did locate several companies in Australia who design, project manage the construction, and commission ethanol plants. Such as:

Booth and Associates
Grainol

As for small scale, farm scale, or 'package' ethanol plants. We located several of these available mainly from the US. Starchy crops like grains etc are the most common feedstock for these. They are designed for small scale operations.

We also tracked down some designs for 'build your own' plants which can be found in the links below.

Information and resources for farm scale ethanol plants or small scale ethanol plants can be found on the following links:

Journey to Forever: Has great online resources for ethanol plants.
Journey to Forever: Also has a complete description on how to build a farm scale ethanol plant. The design was selected from submissions to a design competition.
Ethanol Producer: Is an online magazine for the biofuel industry.
Ethtec: Has a good picture and description of a pilot ethanol plant of commercial scale.

Some related articles:

The ABC News Wire: Mission New Energy Ltd
Agriculture WA

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