Farm Fuel Alcohol Project: preliminary report on facility design

Technical Report · Sat Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6722189· OSTI ID:6722189

Pile, R S; Badger, P C; Roetheli, J C

This report describes the design of a farm-based ethanol production system to be built by TVA at Muscle Shoals, Alabama. This facility will include cooking, fermentation, and distillation equipment to allow production of 8000 to 12,000 gallons of fuel ethanol during a three to four month period each year. Output will be about 10 gallons of 190-proof ethanol per hour. Present components are sized to allow 12 to 14 hour daily operation as a semi-continuous batch system. Intent of the project is to document equipment and energy requirements, ethanol yields, and feasibility of small farm-based ethanol plants for farm fuel self-sufficiency. Cooking and fermentation will be batch-type operations, and packed distillation columns will be used for separating ethanol from the fermented beer. Energy recovery and waste heat use are integrated when feasible. The fermented beer will be fed directly to the distillation columns without separation of solids. Although this is an area of concern, an economical method of separation could not be identified.

• Research Organization: Tennessee Valley Authority, Muscle Shoals, AL (USA). Div. of Agricultural Development
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AI01-80CS80010
• OSTI ID: 6722189
• Report Number(s): DOE/CS/80010-T2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
090222* -- Alcohol Fuels-- Preparation from Wastes or Biomass-- (1976-1989)
140504 -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Biomass Production & Conversion-- (-1989)
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
299003 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Unconventional Sources & Power Generation-- Other-- (-1989)
ALCOHOLS
BATCH CULTURE
BIOCONVERSION
BIOMASS CONVERSION PLANTS
BIOSYNTHESIS
CEREALS
DESIGN
DISTILLATION EQUIPMENT
ENERGY RECOVERY
EQUIPMENT
ETHANOL
FARMS
FERMENTATION
GRAMINEAE
GRASS
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
MAIZE
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
RECOVERY
SYNTHESIS
WASTE HEAT UTILIZATION
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION