9/18/2008 9:17:00 AM Food to fuel: Norfolk ethanol plant celebrates first year with tour
DENNIS MEYER/DAILY NEWSDon Hutchens (left), director of the Nebraska Corn Board, and Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy (to Hutchens’ right) listen as information is shared Wednesday morning in Norfolk about the Louis Dreyfus Commodities ethanol plant.
Positive impact touted at celebration
The numbers speak for themselves.
At the Louis Dreyfus Commodities first-year celebration Wednesday morning in Norfolk, Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy said corn-based ethanol is a strong product and will always be a strong industry in the state of Nebraska.
R.J. Baker, director of the Elkhorn Valley Economic Development Council in Norfolk, backed up Sheehy's statement with numbers of the preliminary results of an impact study on the Louis Dreyfus plant using 2007 numbers. The results include:
- Local purchases of grain and services related to Louis Dreyfus totaled $34,770,000.
- New jobs created at the plant totaled 40; indirect jobs, including trucking and service and supply vendors, totaled 88.
- Direct payroll related to the plant totaled $2,225,000; indirect payroll totaled $2,910,000.
Erik Anderson, chief executive officer of Louis Dreyfus North America, said three factors helped shape the company's decision to locate in Norfolk.
First, it recognized the production capability of the Nebraska farm community. Second, it believed in the innovative mindset of Nebraskans. Third, it believed Nebraskans work hard and take pride in what they do - an attribute made evident in the company's ability to get the plant up and running in time, he said.
"We are trying to do this in partnership with the local communities," he said. "We have had enormous help in getting our project up successfully."
It's kind of like an industrial-sized moonshine still.
As a matter of fact, the ethanol created at Louis Dreyfus Commodities Norfolk plant actually can be consumed until it is prepared for shipping.
"I wouldn't recommend drinking it, but it is true," said Shannelle Grudzynski, laboratory manager at the plant.
Prior to shipping the product, the company has to render it unfit for human consumption. It means natural gasoline at a concentration of two to five percent is added.
Grudzynski explained an illustration of how the plant works during a company celebration Wednesday morning. The event - attended by representatives of the Norfolk Area Chamber of Commerce; Erik Anderson, chief executive officer of Louis Dreyfus North America; and Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy - marked the end of the company's first year of production in Norfolk.
Grudzynski's illustration of the corn-to-ethanol (or livestock feed) process helped simplify the complicated workings of the plant.
When grain comes in, it is ground into a fine meal with hammers that are hooked on a rod. Once it comes off the hammermill, it goes into the slurry tank where water is added, along with ammonia to control pH and enzymes to start breaking down the starch naturally found in the grain.
After about 30 minutes, the product is sent to the hydroheater, where high-pressure steam forces the mash that comes off of the slurry to break it down.
"It makes the starch liquid, so it will run through the rest of the process," she said.
The liquid is then sent through the heat exchanger to remove the heat for fermentation - where the ethanol is made.
"We add yeast. This is actually similar to the same stuff you go home and bake bread with . . . it's going to function the same way," Grudzynski said.
The second enzyme then breaks down the starches and sugars into a glucose. The water and mash are separated from the alcohol.
"Ethanol goes into a vapor sooner than water," Grudzynski explained. "We add enough heat to get the alcohol to come off and a little bit of water - but not much. We have 190-proof alcohol."
The 190-proof alcohol is then run through a sieve, where tiny beads with thousands of nearly microscopic pitholes that are big enough to trap water but too small to trap ethanol turn the product into 200 proof.
From there, the gasoline is added and the product is shipped by either truck or rail.
To make feed from the grain, the same process is followed until distillation. After distillation, the mash and water are spun in a centrifuge that pulls out a cake-line product. The product is run through a single dryer for wet cake or an evaporator and dryer for dry product.
The dry cake has a shelf life of greater than 30 days, she said.
Grudzynski added, "Local producers get the wet cake. Because of the moisture, the shelf life (of wet cake) is three to five days."
Reader Comments
Posted: Friday, September 19, 2008
Article comment by:
Dan Abboud
One thing that was missed at the end of the article is the fact that the Distillers Dried Grain and Wet Cake both go on to feed livestock as a high protien feed. So a majority of the corn used goes on to fulfill it's original purpose. So the food technically goes to fuel and food.
