Nation's first closed-loop ethanol plant opens

"Ethanol is the greatest economic development tool for rural Nebraska and other rural states in the last 25 years," said Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman.

By Jennifer Bremer

The world's first closed-loop ethanol plant fueled by biogas from animal waste is up and running near the eastern Nebraska town of Mead.

E3 BioFuels launched its high-efficiency Genesis Plant on June 28. Biogas from manure from the Mead Cattle Company feedlot adjacent to the plant, powers the plant instead of coal or natural gas.

"This plant is referred to as the Genesis Plant because it is the first of it's kind in the world," said E3 BioFuels President and CEO Dennis Langley. "We hope to build 15 more of these kind of plants in the future."

Closed-loop system

The patented closed-loop ethanol system produces energy by combining manure, collected from the 30,000-head cattle feedlot, with thin stillage, a cellulosic byproduct of ethanol refining. The hot liquid mixture is decomposed inside and anaerobic digester, where bacteria extract methane-rich biogas that is used to fire the plant's ethanol boilers. The loop is completed by feeding the wet distiller's grain to the cattle in the feedlot.

"This plant sets a new standard for ethanol production in Nebraska and the nation, and is an example of the innovation needed to take this industry to the next level," said Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman.

The governor said that he is committed to helping the nation become less dependent on foreign fuels. He expects an ethanol plant to open every month for the rest of the year in Nebraska, which will bring the state to number two in ethanol production behind Iowa.

"Ethanol is the greatest economic development tool for rural Nebraska and other rural states in the last 25 years," said Gov. Heineman.

Environmentally friendly

The plant is not only environmentally friendly because it is powered by the collection of methane gas, but it also represents an advancement in energy efficiency. Within the plant itself, the system can produce over 46 units of energy in the form of ethanol for each unit of fossil fuel energy required.

"That's a 46:1 ratio inside the plant compared to a conventional ethanol plant's efficiency of less than 3:1," said Langley. "That is a revolutionary step forward in energy efficiency."

The closed-loop system reduces pollution by using biogas instead of fossil fuels, and also serves as a powerful waste management solution for dealing with agriculture waste. He said that 70 percent of all water pollution is from animal waste and this system uses that waste instead of it being a source of the problem.

"Biofuels have the potential to help solve global warming because the growing plants used to make them absorb carbon dioxide that is already in our atmosphere," said David Tuft, campaign director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's climate center in Washington, D.C.

He is convinced that the closed-loop system helps with the global warming issue since no fossil fuels are used. "That means we are releasing less of the ancient carbon that is trapping heat in our atmosphere," he said.

Value added to rural Mead

Construction of the $80 million Genesis Plant was completed this spring. It will produce 25 million gallons of ethanol a year and consume 300,000 tons of manure. The plant added nearly 90 jobs to the town with a population of 564.

"We use about 150,000 pounds of manure each day. As the manure is separated in the digester, more is added," said John Curran, E3 ethanol plant manager.

The cattle in the feedlot are all on slotted floored facilities, where the manure is collected in pits and then pumped to lagoons. From the lagoons it is sent to the digester where it is processed into gas, liquid and solid.

The gas is used for fuel, the liquid is sent back to lagoons and used for irrigation and the solid is used for compost on farmland.

The cattle are indoors at all times with the barn designed so that rain water runs off the back and does not run into the pits. This collection of manure is the best for the system because excess dirt and sand are not present.

The feedlot capacity is 30,000 head, which are housed in nine barns that are half-a-mile long and 40 feet deep. The slanted roof is open to the south to provide protection from the sun in the summer time and allow the sun in to provide warmth in the winter. The feedlot, which was built in 1969 is one of only two in the country with the same design, according to Curran.

"The design of the feedlot works well for the cattle we have here. We have a very high weight gain per pound of feed," he said. The cattle are on feed for about 150 days and are fed a diet of steam flaked corn, silage and wet distiller's grain.

The 10 million bushel of corn that is needed to run the plant is mostly purchased from area producers. One million of that is processed into stem-flaked corn for the feedlot diet and the remaining nine million is used in the ethanol plant.

Twenty thousand bushel of corn are used per day at the plant and 57,000 gallons of ethanol are produced each day.

"This high-efficiency plant represents the next evolution of the biofuels industry," said Langley. "Here in Mead we are taking a giant leap toward energy independence while at the same time providing tools to meet our waste management and global warming challenges."

For more information on E3 Biofuels, visit their website at www.e3biofuels.com.

Jennifer Bremer can be reached by phone at 641-938-2342 or by e-mail at jbremermaj@hotmail.com.

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7/9/07

6 Star Midwest Ag

Date: 7/3/07

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