Gulf Ethanol Begins Testing New Cellulosic Preprocessing System

[JohnWxy]

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0420497.htm

Gulf Ethanol plans to test its cellulosic biomass preprocessing system for capacity of preprocessing, throughput capabilities, and the performance parameters that will define scalability. The specific objectives of our preprocessing research will include efforts to quantify the equipment's capabilities with various biomass feedstocks. GFET will focus on sorghum but will also test switchgrass, corn, sawdust and other biomass. We plan to structure our testing to further identify strategies to increase preprocessed feedstock bulk densities, energy requirements and to determine the drying capacity of the equipment, all critical elements in cellulosic ethanol production.

GFET's goal is to produce a feedstock that is comprised of very small particles that will increase the net ethanol yield and efficiencies of cellulosic ethanol production thereby easing the demand on corn as the primary feedstock for ethanol.

[DCKit]

1. Most new inventions are tested on a bench-top in the lab.

Why does ethanol testing require the construction of large production plants?

[JohnWxy]

2. When going from laboratory scale testing to industrial scale production the rules change.

manufacturing stuff on an industrial scale is nothing like designing and conducting test procedures in the lab. You simply have to set up a large scale manufacuring facility and operate it to find out things you won't discover in the lab. Producing a material (whether your fermenting ethanol or refining crude oil) on an industrial scale is just a whole different "art form" than making small batches in a lab. In fact, there is a whole sub-discipline in Engineereing devoted to this. It's called Industrial Engineering.


"The specific objectives of our preprocessing research will include efforts to quantify the equipment's capabilities with various biomass feedstocks. GFET will focus on sorghum but will also test switchgrass, corn, sawdust and other biomass. We plan to structure our testing to further identify strategies to increase preprocessed feedstock bulk densities, energy requirements and to determine the drying capacity of the equipment, all critical elements in cellulosic ethanol production."

You just can't find some of this stuff out unless you start doing it (on large scale).