Ethanol production for automotive fuel usage. Final technical report, July 1979-August 1980
Production of ethanol from potatoes, sugar beets, and wheat using geothermal resources in the Raft River area of Idaho was evaluated. The south-central region of Idaho produces approximately 18 million bushels of wheat, 1.3 million tons of sugar beets, and 27 million cwt potatoes annually. A 20-million-gallon-per-year ethanol facility has been selected as the largest scale plant that can be supported with the current agricultural resources. The conceptual plant was designed to operate on each of these three feedstocks for a portion of the year, but could operate year-round on any of them. The processing facility uses conventional alcohol technology and uses geothermal energy for all process heating. There are three feedstock preparation sections, although the liquefaction and saccharification steps for potatoes and wheat involve common equipment. The fermentation, distillation, and by-product handling sections are common to all three feedstocks. Maximum geothermal fluid requirements are approximately 6000 gpm. It is anticipated that this flow will be supplied by nine production wells located on private and BLM lands in the Raft River KGRA. The geothermal fluid will be flashed from 280/sup 0/F in three stages to supply process steam at 250/sup 0/F, 225/sup 0/F, and 205/sup 0/F for various process needs. Steam condensate plus liquid remaining after the third flash will be returned to receiving strata through six injection wells.
- Research Organization:
- Bechtel National, Inc., San Francisco, CA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-79ID12050
- OSTI ID:
- 6887097
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ID/12050-3
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Ethanol Production for Automotive Fuel Usage
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Related Subjects
09 BIOMASS FUELS
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ETHANOL
PRODUCTION
GEOTHERMAL PROCESS HEAT
POTATOES
FERMENTATION
SUGAR BEETS
WHEAT
ALCOHOL FUELS
BY-PRODUCTS
CAPITAL
COST
DISTILLATION
ENERGY DEMAND
GEOTHERMAL WELLS
KGRA
RAFT RIVER VALLEY
ALCOHOLS
BEETS
BIOCONVERSION
CEREALS
DEMAND
ENERGY
FOOD
FUELS
GRAMINEAE
GRASS
HEAT
HYDROXY COMPOUNDS
IDAHO
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PACIFIC NORTHWEST REGION
PLANTS
PROCESS HEAT
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SYNTHETIC FUELS
TUBERS
USA
VEGETABLES
WELLS
Geothermal Legacy
151000* - Geothermal Energy- Direct Energy Utilization
090222 - Alcohol Fuels- Preparation from Wastes or Biomass- (1976-1989)
299002 - Energy Planning & Policy- Geothermal- (-1989)