Ethanol Productions

Moonshiners made “white lightning” alcohol by lighting a fire under a copper pot, cooking a mixture of corn and water and allowing the mash to ferment. The mash was then heated again to allow the vapor to condense through a copper tube. This was the distillation process. The vapor was ethanol alcohol. It was drinkable and potent enough to fuel Henry Ford’s Model T. The mash that remained in the copper pot was fed to the farm animals. We call it distillers grain.

This “pot still” vapor distillation system is still used in the hills of Kentucky and West Virginia to make alcohol, but the distillation system used by today’s ethanol plants uses oil industry technology. Build an ethanol plant next to an oil refinery and it’s tough to tell which is which. They both vent steam into the atmosphere through distillation columns. This is one reason why ethanol plants consume large amounts of water and energy and face mounting environmental issues. New ethanol plants have tweaked this process, but still use the oil refinery technology.

Jim McCrabb grew up on an Iowa farm and founded a company involved in the grain handling industry. In 1978 he saw the potential of the ethanol industry and did his research. Not coming from an oil industry background, Jim kept an open mind and in the 1980’s, he built more than 50 farm-sized ethanol plants using the traditional, vapor system technology. He has since transferred this technology to large-scale ethanol plants.

The McCrabb Vapor System ethanol plant uses old and proven technology, but is a refreshing departure from the traditional oil refinery, steam-ethanol plant. McCrabb has taken the vapor system technology still used in many European countries to make beer and alcohol, two steps farther. He has incorporated a no-cook system that feeds the beer directly into the fermentation process, thereby reducing the energy used in an ethanol plant by approximately one-third. This also reduces plant construction costs by eliminating cookers and liquefaction tanks.

McCrabb has also eliminated the large distillation stacks that vent steam into the atmosphere. The process is completely closed loop. There are no emissions for the EPA or DNR to monitor. The only water used is the water absorbed into the mash to become ethanol and water absorbed into the DG. Total water consumption is between 1.4 and 1.6 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol assuming 8% to 12% moisture content of the DG that is produced. This compares to three to four gallons for existing steam plants and as much as five to six gallons of water per gallon of ethanol for older plants.

Distillers grain processing is the third area of improvement, and possibly the most important. McCrabb has found a way to separate and capture 100% of the distillers grain contained in a bushel of corn. Existing technology allows the capture of about 12 to 14 pounds of DG from a bushel of corn that might contain 17 or 18 pounds. The 25% waste is then sent through centrifuges and water treatment systems to separate out the waste so that the water can be reused. This uses energy not required in the McCrabb’ system which doesn’t need centrifuges or water treatment systems in his plants. This decreases construction costs as well as reducing energy and water consumption.

Most important, the McCrabb process machine has the capability to produce dry DG in pellets or cubes directly from the process. The user controls the water content of the DG, which can be produced dry (8% to 10% water content) or wet (up to 50%). Drying the DG improves shelf life and transportability, but consumes at least one-third of the energy used in an ethanol plant. There are no DG dryers in a McCrabb plant. There is also no aroma. The mash process is closed loop, not allowing that sweet aroma for which ethanol plants are known to waft into the atmosphere.

The following table compares water and energy consumption in a McCrabb Vapor System versus a typical plant built today.

McCrabb Vapor System

Typical Steam Plant

Water Usage

(Gallons per gallon of ethanol)

1.4 to 1.6

3.5 to 6

Water Usage

(Gallons per minute in a

100M gallon per year plant)

250 – 290

700 – 1,200

Energy

(Natural Gas Usage - BTU)

12,000 - 17,000

34,000

James Plautz, President of Ethanol Productions, LLC who has exclusive marketing rights for the McCrabb Vapor System says they are very close to obtaining financing for the first “demonstration plant” to be built in Western Iowa. They are also negotiating with several ethanol builders that are interested in being the first to utilize the new system and becoming the low cost producer in the industry.

Email Jim Plautz at jim.plautz@verizon.net or call 813-968-6867 for more information.

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