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Title: Ethanol production in small- to medium-size facilities for use in internal combustion engines. Final report. [30 liters per hour]

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5533341

The general areas in which research has been directed are ethanol production from alternate feedstocks, stillage utilization and processing, and ethanol usage in internal combustion engines. This report covers research conducted between September 1, 1981 and August 31, 1983. Extensive research on ethanol yield from sweet potatoes has shown that alcohol production can be as high as 137 liters per tonne. Some dilution water was required to handle the sweet potato mash as a slurry. This resulted in low ethanol concentrations in the beer (6%). Fermentation of carrot culls yielded 26 to 36 liters of ethanol per tonne of carrots. As with sweet potatoes, dilution water resulted in low ethanol concentrations in the beer. Seed grain sorghum that had been chemically treated with the fungicide Captan and the pesticides heptachlor and methoxychlor was feremented and distilled. The chemical seed treatments had no significant effect on ethanol yield from grain sorghum. Captan was destroyed in the cooking process. Methoxychlor and heptachlor residue remained throughout the process and most was recovered in the wet pressed stillage solids. Research with stillage processing and treatment had the overall goal of developing processes for recovering animal and plant nutrients for reuse and reducing water pollution potential. An ethanol vaporizing system has been installed on a natural gas spark ignition engine. The system can be retrofitted to spark ignition engines without changes to the original fuel system. Vaporized 170 to 180 proof ethanol proved to be a satisfactory fuel. 56 references, 21 figures, 40 tables.

Research Organization:
Texas Energy and Natural Resources Advisory Council, Austin (USA)
OSTI ID:
5533341
Report Number(s):
TENRAC/EDF-109; ON: DE84900430
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English