E³ BioFuels inaugurated the world's first closed-loop ethanol plant fueled largely by biogas from animal waste instead of coal or natural gas on June 28। The energy-efficient, low-cost Genesis Plant, located in Mead, Neb., began commercial operation in April 2007, doesn't contribute to global warming and actually reduces air and water pollution.
E³ BioFuels' patented technology brings together three proven components into a single, closed-loop system:
- A large cattle feedlot or dairy that produces large quantities of cow manure needing treatment.
- An anaerobic digester that transforms the cow manure into biogas.
- An ethanol plant that runs on the biogas instead of natural gas or coal, and whose leftover wet grain is fed back to the cattle.
ThAt the Genesis plant the patented closed-loop ethanol system produces energy by combining manure, collected from an adjacent 28,000-head cattle feedlot, with thin stillage, a cellulosic byproduct of ethanol refining। The hot liquid mixture is decomposed inside an anaerobic digester, where bacteria extract methane-rich biogas that is used to fire the plant's ethanol boilers. Traditional ethanol refineries are fueled by coal or natural gas. e leftover grain is fed wet to the cattle at the nearby feedlot, whose manure in turn powers the plant and creates high-quality fertilizer as a byproduct. Traditional ethanol plants have to invest in expensive, energy-intensive equipment to dry this leftover grain to prevent spoilage, and then transport it to far-off farms to use as feed. The on-site cows are treated to fresh wet cake from the nearby plant, thus avoiding both the cost and fossil fuel pollution of drying and transporting the grain.
Greenhouse gases are reduced by capturing the methane gas, which is 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide in causing global warming, that the decomposing manure would release to the atmosphere if it were not used in the process. By recycling livestock manure into biogas energy, the system eliminates a major component of the No. 1 source of water pollution in the United States: agricultural runoff.
Construction of the $80 million plant was completed this spring and was placed into commercial operation in April. It will produce 25 million gallons of ethanol a year, and consume 300,000 tons of manure. Including the feedlot, it provides 90 jobs in Mead, population 564, illustrating how proponents of biofuels say they can revitalize the economies of rural communities.
The Mead, Nebraska, site was selected due to its existing cattle feedlot, one of the few in the country which already had roofs over the cows and slatted floors for quick collection of manure. The anaerobic digester requires "clean manure" that does not contain dirt, sand or water in order to create biogas.
CEO Dennis Langley said that E³ BioFuels intends to locate more plants in several Midwestern states, and will license the technology for others to use as well. Once it becomes commercially feasible to refine ethanol from plant cellulose, he said, E³ BioFuels will have a ready supply of cellulose already on site in the form of leftover material from the biogas digester unit, increasing the positive energy balance.
The June 29 edition of the Omaha World Hearld quoted Langley as saying that E³ wants to double the size of the Mead plant and develop 15 more plants nationwide in the next five years.
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