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Title: Conversion of Distiller’s Grains to Renewable Fuels and High Value Protein: Integrated Techno-Economic and Life Cycle Assessment

Journal Article · · Environmental Science and Technology
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Emeryville, CA (United States)
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Distiller’s grains are a byproduct of corn ethanol production and provide an opportunity for increasing the economic viability and sustainability of the overall grain-to-fuels process. Typically, these grains are dried and sold as a ruminant feed adjunct. Here, this study considers utilization of the residuals in a novel supplementary fermentation process to produce two products, enriched protein and fusel alcohols. The value-added proposition and environmental impact of this second fermentation step for distiller’s grains are evaluated by considering three different processing scenarios. Techno-economic results show the minimum protein selling price, assuming fusel alcohol products are valued at 0.79 cents per liter gasoline equivalent, ranges between 1.65–2.48 kg protein–1 for the different cases. Environmental impacts of the systems were evaluated through life cycle assessment. Results show a baseline emission results of 17 g CO2-eq (MJ fuel)–1 for the fuel product and 10.3 kg CO2-eq kg protein–1 for the protein product. Sensitivity to allocation methods show a dramatic impact with results ranging between –8 to 140 g CO2-eq (MJ fuel)–1 for the fuel product and –0.3 to 6.4 kg CO2-eq kg protein–1 for the protein product. The discussion is focused on the potential impact of the technology on corn ethanol production economics and sustainability.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1559493
Report Number(s):
SAND-2019-8438J; 677672
Journal Information:
Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 53, Issue 17; ISSN 0013-936X
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 7 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Figures / Tables (16)

Figure 1(p. 6)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 19)figure Figure 2
Table 1(p. 23)table Table 1
Figure 3(p. 27)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 34)figure Figure 4
Supplemental Table 1(p. 46)figure Supplemental Table 1
Supplementary Table 2(p. 46)figure Supplementary Table 2
Supplementary Table 3(p. 47)figure Supplementary Table 3
Table 2(p. 51)table Table 2
Table 3(p. 53)table Table 3
Supplementary Table 4(p. 57)figure Supplementary Table 4
Supplementary Table 5(p. 58)figure Supplementary Table 5
Supplementary Table 6(p. 59)figure Supplementary Table 6
Supplementary Table 7(p. 59)figure Supplementary Table 7
Supplementary Table 8(p. 59)figure Supplementary Table 8
Supplementary Table 9(p. 60)figure Supplementary Table 9

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