2023 January Ethanol Producer Magazine

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EDITORIAL

President & Editor

Tom Bryan tbryan@bbiinternational.com

Online News Editor

Erin Voegele | evoegele@bbiinternational.com

Staff Writer

Katie Schroeder katie.schroeder@bbiinternational.com

DESIGN

Vice President of Production & Design

Jaci Satterlund | jsatterlund@bbiinternational.com

Graphic Designer

Raquel Boushee | rboushee@bbiinternational.com

PUBLISHING & SALES

CEO

Joe Bryan | jbryan@bbiinternational.com

Vice President of Operations/Marketing & Sales John Nelson jnelson@bbiinternational.com

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Bob Brown bbrown@bbiinternational.com

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Jessica Tiller | jtiller@bbiinternational.com

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Marla DeFoe | mdefoe@bbiinternational.com

EDITORIAL BOARD

Ringneck Energy Walter Wendland

Little Sioux Corn Processors Steve Roe

Commonwealth Agri-Energy Mick Henderson Aemetis Advanced Fuels Eric McAfee Western Plains Energy Derek Peine Front Range Energy Dan Sanders Jr.

Advertiser Index

2023 Int'l Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo 3

Check-All Valve Mfg. Co. 23 D3MAX, LLC 18-19 Fagen, Inc. 30

Fluid Quip Mechanical 17 Fluid Quip Technologies, LLC 12 Growth Energy 13 ICM, Inc. 26 IFF, Inc. 33

Indeck Power Equipment Co. 36 Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits 2 Leaf by Lesaffre 7 Novozymes 9 Phibro Ethanol 31 POET LLC 35 RPMG, Inc. 27

Upcoming Events

2023 International Biomass Conference & Expo February 28 - March 2, 2023

Cobb Galleria Centre, Atlanta, GA (866) 746-8385 | BiomassConference.com

Now in its 16th year, the International Biomass Conference & Expo is expected to bring together more than 800 attendees, 140 exhibitors and 65 speakers from more than 21 countries. It is the largest gathering of biomass professionals and academics in the world. The conference provides relevant content and unparalleled networking opportunities in a dynamic business-to-business environment. In addition to abundant networking opportunities, the largest biomass conference in the world is renowned for its outstanding programming—powered by Biomass Magazine—that maintains a strong focus on commercial-scale biomass production, new technology, and near-term research and development.

2023 Int'l Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo

June 12-14, 2023

CHI Health Center, Omaha, NE (866) 746-8385 | FuelEthanolWorkshop.com

From its inception, the mission of this event has remained constant: The FEW delivers timely presentations with a strong focus on commercial-scale ethanol production—from quality control and yield maximization to regulatory compliance and fiscal management. The FEW is the ethanol industry’s premier forum for unveiling new technologies and research findings. The program is primarily focused on optimizing grain ethanol operations while also covering cellulosic and advanced ethanol technologies.

2023 Biodiesel Summit: Sustainable Aviation Fuel & Renewable Diesel June 12-14, 2023

Customer Service Please call 1-866-746-8385 or email us at service@bbiinternational.com. Subscriptions Subscriptions to Ethanol Producer Magazine are free of charge to everyone with the exception of a shipping and handling charge for anyone outside the United States. To subscribe, visit www.EthanolProducer.com or you can send your mailing address and payment (checks made out to BBI International) to: Ethanol Producer Magazine Subscriptions, 308 Second Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203. You can also fax a subscription form to 701-746-5367. Back Issues, Reprints and Permissions Select back issues are available for $3.95 each, plus shipping. Article reprints are also available for a fee. For more information, contact us at 866-746-8385 or service@bbiinternational.com. Advertising Ethanol Producer Magazine provides a specific topic delivered to a highly targeted audience. We are committed to editorial excellence and high-quality print production. To find out more about Ethanol Producer Magazine advertising opportunities, please contact us at 866-746-8385 or service@bbiinternational.com. Letters to the Editor We welcome letters to the editor. Send to Ethanol Producer Magazine Letters to the Editor, 308 2nd Ave. N., Suite 304, Grand Forks, ND 58203 or email to editor@bbiinternational.com. Please include your name, address and phone number. Letters may be edited for clarity and/or space.

CHI Health Center, Omaha, NE (866) 746-8385 | BiodieselSummit.com

The Biodiesel Summit: Sustainable Aviation Fuel & Renewable Diesel is a forum designed for biodiesel and renewable diesel producers to learn about cutting-edge process technologies, new techniques and equipment to optimize existing production, and efficiencies to save money while increasing throughput and fuel quality. Produced by Biodiesel Magazine, this worldclass event features premium content from technology providers, equipment vendors, consultants, engineers and producers to advance discussion and foster an environment of collaboration and networking through engaging presentations, fruitful discussion and compelling exhibitions with one purpose, to further the biomass-based diesel sector beyond its current limitations.

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CI Reduction Permeates

Ethanol Industry, and Our Coverage

The picturesque winter scene on our cover doesn’t give it away, but the stories in this January edition of Ethanol Producer Magazine are tied together by a subtle thread that has nothing to do with snow covered fields or red barns—we just liked the picture (Happy Holidays). Our coverage begins with a pair of stories on enzyme and yeast innovation, followed by a timely article on a proposed alcohol-to-jet fuel project in South Dakota and another on the growing appeal of combined heat and power (CHP). If you read all four, a point of connection should emerge: carbon intensity (CI) reduction. And no, we didn’t expect CI reduction to pop up in each piece, but it does. Month after month, CI keeps coming up.

Our paired coverage of enzymes and yeast begins with “Lifting Up Production,” on page 14, a story about how ethanol producers are unlocking more value from corn and other feedstocks with evolved cocktails of enzymes with attributes like high-heat tolerance that help them improve yield—for both ethanol and corn oil—and corn fiber degradation traits. As suppliers tell us, it’s not only about improving production consistency and upping ethanol and coproduct yield, but bringing down CI to help producers reach low-carbon markets. And they say there has been a shift in customer priorities, with DCO output and CI reduction now sharing the stage with ethanol yield—and, hence, the introduction of boundary-pushing products to make it all happen.

Our coverage of enzymes and yeast is divided, but barely. The two inputs, of course, have connected roles in production—there are even enzyme-expressing yeast strains on the market. And suppliers are leveraging their combined knowledge of both yeast and enzyme development to determine the best combinations of the two to help customers hit new operational targets: convert more starch and fiber, make more corn oil, improve overall performance and cut input costs. That’s a lot to ask, but yeast companies are delivering. In “Drawing Out More,” on page 20, we find out how they’re introducing new products that meet these goals, enabling producers to “hit every part of the production curve with confidence.” For plants that simply want to run hard, there are fast-fermentation yeasts for that, too. And, as promised, there are even yeasts billed as low-CI products, designed to access a greater portion of the corn kernel, increasing production without more feedstock.

Achieving very low, if not negative, CI is especially important to Gevo Inc., the Colorado-based company that intends to build a large sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) biorefinery in eastern South Dakota. As we report in “Digging Into Decarbonization,” on page 24, the idea behind this ambitious plan is that by combining low-carbon farming practices with state-of-the-art, low CI ethanol and SAF production—powered by renewable energy—corn ethanol can play a major role in de-fossilizing the aviation industry. It’s a bold plan, and Gevo intends to make it happen by 2025.

Finally, on page 28, be sure to read “Stepping Up to CHP Platforms,” a story about how CHP has become a frontand-center play for ethanol producers on—you guessed it—CI reduction quests. California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard has been a big driver of recent CHP installations, but for producers eyeing carbon capture and sequestration—which requires a significant amount of additional power—CHP is almost a must-have.

Oldmansplaining

If oldmansplaining is already a thing, it’s probably old guys offering their opinions, requested or not, condescendingly assuming no one who isn’t as old as them could possibly know whatever they think the young whippersnappers need to know, by gum! I may do a little of that, but my oldmansplaining is less about condescension and more about proving a reference or phrase I used wasn’t just incoherent word salad falling out of my mouth. It happens a lot more the older I get, and it’ll happen to all of you probably at a younger age because of the speed of technology. Let me know the first time some kid gives you a weird look when you mention a “snow day.” But I digress ... (that’s a catch phrase from “Frasier” ... uh, never mind).

I recently used the phrase “camel’s nose under the tent,” which might have been an old saying a long time ago, when I first heard it. I had to oldmansplain it’s from a fable, where a man crossing the desert stops for the night and goes into his tent, leaving his camel outside (as one would). A sandstorm breaks out, and the camel asks if he can put his nose inside the tent flap to avoid the stinging sand. The man, apparently unphased by a talking camel, gives in. Shortly thereafter, the camel complains of his eyes and ears being sandblasted, and the man allows the animal to put its entire head inside. Eventually half of the camel’s body is inside, and he points out that configuration holds the tent open, allowing sand to come in, and suggests his whole body should be inside the tent. The man allows it, and once the camel is fully inside the tent, there is no space left for the man, who then has to go out into the sandstorm.

The “camel’s nose” phrase seemed appropriate when I used it to describe a small change in an important regulation. Late this summer, the California Air Resources Board released its Advanced Clean Cars II Regulations, which are “the rules” for California’s implementation of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2020 executive order banning sales of new internal combustion (IC) passenger vehicles by 2035. At the time, a lot of ethanol people were getting wrapped around the axle (look it up) over the 100 percent battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and total IC ban mentioned in most news reports written about the governor’s statement, and, in fairness, in most governor-splaining of his own position. I tried to soothe anxious folks by some-kind-of-splaining the actual executive order was heavy on “zero emission vehicles,” (ZEVs) and not so much on an IC ban.

Two years later, CARB’s rule came out, and the 100 percent battery electric vehicles by 2035 edict became a transition to ZEVs with ZEVs defined as BEVs, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV).” Hmmm. A plug-in hybrid has an internal combustion engine, and it needs fuel.

Naturally, we think the best fuel for those PHEVs is the lowest carbon fuel E85, and with our camel’s nose under the tent, we will keep making the case for standard hybrids (HEVs), fueled by E85, to also be inside the California tent. After all, Argonne National Lab’s latest GREET model shows the lowest emitting vehicle isn’t a BEV it’s a grid independent HEV using E85. I can even ‘splain how that works, I have one!

The camel’s nose fable is supposed to show how allowing small and seemingly unimportant exceptions leads to a larger, less desirable outcome. Less desirable, I suppose unless you’re the camel.

Ron Lamberty Chief Marketing Officer, American Coalition for Ethanol rlamberty@ethanol.org

Emily Skor CEO, Growth Energy

202.545.4000

eskor@growthenergy.org

Growth Energy to Fuel Beyond in 2023

By any measure, 2022 was a banner year for biofuel advocates in Washington, D.C. We secured new funding for blending infrastructure, critical tax incentives for clean energy, a summer waiver for E15 sales, and a stronger Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Our industry also delivered major savings at the pump during a global fuel shortage, cementing the role of low-carbon ethanol as a proven solution to our climate and energy challenges. Now we’re looking beyond the horizon at the opportunities to fuel progress under a new Congress.

This November’s election offered mixed results for both parties, with Democrats out-performing traditional midterm patterns to hold the Senate and the GOP taking control in the House, where a simple majority is enough for committee leaders to set the course of debate. Fortunately, the importance of biofuels is a topic that transcends party lines. It’s important to everyone consumers, farmers, workers, taxpayers and policymakers. This year was no different, and we saw candidates from both parties emphasize ethanol’s role in any strong economic and environmental agenda.

In the coming months, we’ll be working closely with these newly elected and re-elected leaders to build on the progress we made in 2022 and kick off a new era for low-carbon biofuels.

That starts the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ongoing rulemaking called the Set which marks a watershed moment for the RFS and will establish a new baseline for biofuel volumes in 2023 and beyond. As regular readers know, Growth Energy is laser-focused on making sure the Set reflects Congress’s overarching directive to steadily expand the critical role biofuels play in mitigating climate change and lowering prices at the pump. Under a consent agreement reached with Growth Energy, EPA is bound by court order to finalize the new requirements no later than June 14, and keeping that process on track will be vital to delivering on the full potential of the RFS.

At the same time, we have a limited window before the start of the next summer driving season. A temporary waiver of outdated EPA regulations allowed E15 sales to continue uninterrupted this past year, but the savings unleashed by E15 could vanish without a permanent fix. Thanks to support from key lawmakers and a number of Midwest governors, a solution is in sight, but we won’t let up until our retail partners have the certainty they need to bring cleaner, more affordable options to drivers across the nation. According to a recent report released by Growth Energy, that nationwide transition could save consumers $20.6 billion in annual fuel costs.

Of course, EPA regulations are far from the only battleground for biofuel advocates in 2023. President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) included far-reaching investments in clean energy and biofuels, including tax credits for carbon capture and low-carbon fuels that now have to be implemented by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The biofuels industry is already leading the charge on clean energy innovation, and a properly implemented IRA could turbo-charge that progress, unleashing lower-carbon energy on the ground and in the air. That’s why our team is already hard at work submitting regulatory comments and making sure congressional leaders are prepared to review Internal Revenue Service (IRS) decisions.

That task is especially important in a divided Congress, where the path available for any new legislation is slim. In this environment, we can expect House leaders to invest extra energy into oversight of the administration’s spending under the IRA. That scrutiny will only intensify as presidential hopefuls start making the rounds ahead of the 2024 elections. Growth Energy and our allies will be there at every step to ensure that the climate contributions of America’s biofuel industry get the support they deserve and remain a point of pride for rural communities and their representatives in Congress.

Thankfully, we’re headed into 2023 with a bipartisan wind at our backs. Biofuels are positioned for success, and we’re grateful to our supporters in Congress old and new who share Growth Energy’s vision for a thriving low-carbon economy.

David Carpintero Director General ePURE, the European Renewable Ethanol Association

carpintero@epure.org

Food, Feed and Fuel for Europe: The Future of Renewable Ethanol

Predicting the future direction of EU biofuels policy has never been easy, but developments in the last few months have given some refreshingly clear signposts to a promising road ahead for the European renewable ethanol industry.

As policymakers hammer out the final details of the so-called Fit for 55 package of climate and energy legislation, there is at least general agreement that reducing emissions from transport requires an important role for sustainable biofuels. That’s important, because biofuels such as renewable ethanol are the most immediate, affordable, sustainable and socially inclusive solution the EU has to reduce emissions from the petrol and hybrid cars that will continue to predominate on Europe’s roads for a long time.

Renewable ethanol already has a proven track record in the fight against climate change—with 77 percent average emissions savings compared to fossil petrol—and keeps improving its GHG-reduction performance as European biorefineries keep innovating. It requires no expensive new infrastructure. It makes an impact on emissions now and will help Member States meet their increasingly ambitious targets for de-fossilisation of transport.

Production of renewable ethanol in Europe has other important benefits, notably in contributing to EU food security. Contrary to the misleading and discredited arguments about “food vs fuel” that were heard during the Fit for 55 debates on biofuels, EU ethanol production actually contributes to food security. In fact, in 2021 European renewable ethanol biorefineries produced more high-protein animal feed than fuel—helping ensure an important domestic supply. This was achieved with no deforestation or land grabs: ePURE members’ ethanol production in 2021 required less than 1.8 million hectares (Mha) of European arable land, equivalent to only 1.2 percent of the total arable land of EU27 and the UK—more than three times less than the current area of setaside and fallow land in the EU27.

The land use for ethanol crops is even more negligible, factoring in the co-production of animal feed together with renewable ethanol. Out of the 1.8 Mha, only about 1.1 Mha is attributable to the sole production of ethanol, which is 1 percent of the total arable land of EU27 + UK.

These and other factors were taken into account in September when the European Parliament wisely rejected amendments that would have placed further restrictions on European crop-based biofuels, which are already capped at a maximum of 7 percent of Member States’ road and rail energy and subject to strict sustainability criteria. Such restrictions would have made it harder for Member States to reach their decarbonization objectives and increased EU dependence on imported fossil fuel.

Even with that 7 percent cap in place, there is still room for the renewable ethanol market to grow in Europe, as not all countries have implemented E10 and many still struggle to meet GHG reduction targets.

The outlook is more uncertain when it comes to CO2 standards for cars and vans. Here legislators have acted more narrowly, focusing on battery electric vehicles as a sole solution and touting a ban from 2035 on sales of cars with internal combustion engines.

But even the deal reached by the EU institutions in October leaves open the possibility for “CO2 neutral” liquid fuels to continue to play a role. The agreement foresees that the Commission prepare by 2025 a methodology to assess the full lifecycle emissions of vehicles put on the road, including emissions from the fuels and energy consumed by the vehicles.

As part of its review of what constitutes “CO2 neutral fuels,” the European Commission should take into account the continuously improving GHG-reduction performance of EU renewable ethanol, and recent studies that show hybrid vehicles running on high-ethanol blends have lower GHG emissions than battery electric vehicles on a full-life-cycle basis.

Even looking beyond their proven climate benefits and immediate scalability, it’s easy to see the benefits of keeping sustainable biofuels in the EU transport mix, such as contributing to energy independence and food security and boosting rural economies. As policymakers put the finishing touches to the Fit for 55 picture, they need to keep these in mind.

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PEOPLE, PARTNERSHIPS & PROJECTS

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D3MAX CTO, colleague present in Brazil

Mark Yancey, chief technology officer of D3MAX, shared information about the corn fiber-to-ethanol technology at a gathering of ethanol producers in Brazil in November. BFA-Brazil, hosted annually by Lallemand Biofuels & Distilled Spirits convened about 100 sugarcane and corn ethanol producers from all over the country; attendees included plant managers and directors from Brazil’s largest ethanol production companies.

Yancey’s presentation was given by his longtime industry colleague Rafael Nieves. “Rafy did a great job with the pre-

sentation, and it was very well received,” Yancey said. “Several producers expressed interest in the technology, and we’ve been busy following up with them. Brazil’s ethanol industry is transforming rapidly with a growing number of corn-based plants coming on line. Our technology could be a good fit for many of them.”

RFA’s Davis reappointed to department of commerce advisory committee

Renewable Fuels Association Vice President of Technical and Regulatory Affairs Kelly Davis has been appointed for the fifth time to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Advisory Committee (REEEAC), which advises the agency on issues related to the exportation of U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency products and services. She will serve through May 2024.

“Since 2014, I have been proud to serve on this valuable committee to expand the competitiveness of U.S. exports of renewable energy, specifically ethanol

for fuel use,” Davis said. “I am looking forward to the next chapter with a renewed enthusiasm towards our exportable climate friendly solutions.”

Established in 2010, REEEAC is comprised of senior private sector representatives that provide advice to the Secretary of Commerce on the development and administration of programs and policies to expand the export competitiveness of U.S. renewable energy and energy efficiency products and services.

Davis

Nieves (left) and Yancey (right), longtime industry colleagues, spoke about corn fiber-to-ethanol technology at BFA-Brazil in November.

PHOTO: BFA-BRAZIL

Maersk, Carbon Sink to utilize ethanol plant C02

In collaboration with a South Dakota ethanol plant, Carbon Sink LLC has partnered with international shipping giant AP Moeller-Maersk to produce green methanol. By combining carbon dioxide from the Red River Energy ethanol plant in Rosholt, South Dakota, and hydrogen produced from renewable energy, Carbon Sink plans to supply Maersk with 100,000 metric tons per year of methanol, starting in 2027.

“We are very pleased to be working with Maersk in support of their mission

to decarbonize the shipping sector,” said Carbon Sink CEO Steve Meyer. Carbon Sink brings a vast wealth of knowledge, experience and partnerships to help them achieve their ambitious corporate goals. Our multi-project development strategy creates a pathway for the supply of sig nificant volumes of green methanol to help meet the demand of Maersk’s grow ing dual-fuel ship fleet.”

USGC Latin American team continues to grow

The U.S. Grains Council has added a new ethanol consultant to its team in Latin America, while also expanding the reach of a current team member in the region.

Federico Salcedo has joined the team as a full-time regional ethanol consultant, filling the position that Carlos Suarez left following his move to the D.C. headquarters. As regional ethanol consultant, Salcedo works with strategic public and private stakeholders across Latin America to help them achieve policy goals and capture

value through fuel ethanol, promoting the benefits and comparative advantages of U.S. ethanol.

Freddy Villao, who has acted as a part-time ethanol consultant in Ecuador, has expanded his reach in the region by adding more countries to his role. In ad dition to his work with the USGC, he currently serves as the vice president of government affairs at Titan MineralsEcuador, and previously held roles in the office of the vice presidency of the Re public of Ecuador.

LIFTING UP PRODUCTION

With advanced enzyme solutions, ethanol producers are unlocking more value from corn and other feedstocks. These evolved cocktails are designed for greater heat tolerance, higher output—including DCO yield—and, of course, next-generation pursuits.

By Katie Schroeder

In recent years, many ethanol producers have started migrating toward a more diversified biorefining model as they adapt to changing markets and changing times. The enzymes industry has not only kept pace with this evolution, but helped create it, enabling producers to maximize output, boost distillers corn oil yield, tap into cellulosic ethanol and more.

Novozymes is a provider of yeast and enzymes for the ethanol industry, developing enzymes for liquefaction and saccharification, explains Robert Osborne, R&D manager and leader of the yeast application research and development team. For cellulosic ethanol release, Novozymes has primarily developed and offers cellulases and hemicellulases. Amanda Moser, Novozymes R&D manager, explains that when the company’s customers expressed interest in low-carbon fuel markets, starting years ago, Novozymes intensified its commitment to assist them.

Initially, Novozymes got into secondgeneration ethanol production with its involvement in a first-of-its-kind cellulosic ethanol plant in Crescentino, Italy. The company’s trademarked Cellic line of products included enzymatic pretreatment technologies that catalyze the degradation of plant waste.

Novozymes’ Cellic products help producers breakdown feedstocks such as woody biomass to produce second-generation ethanol. To liberate sugars needed to produce ethanol, the cellulose and hemicellulose found in biomass needs to be degraded. The structure of lignin makes accessing cellulose and hemicellulose difficult because it’s a complex, crosslinked polymer, which gives researchers a challenge in identifying the right combination of enzymes to attack and break down the components within the lignin matrix, explains Osborne. However, the Novozymes team was able to take advantage of its scientists’ expertise and knowledge, combined with a foundational understanding of the customer’s process, to develop technologies to break down biomass to “liberate fermentable sugars,” he explains.

“Novozymes has significant experience developing cellulases and hemicellulases, and we entered this industry initially to support 2G ethanol customers,” Osborne says. “That was really the original focus. We made an intentional market expansion as 2G has taken longer to come online than anticipated. About five years ago, Novozymes evaluated how [we could] leverage our technology and investment in developing fiber-degrading enzymes for 1G customers. We started looking at the corn fiber matrix to figure out how the fiber degrading—and the knowledge that we had gained

and developed from years past—could create value for our 1G ethanol customers.”

In the last five years, Novozymes has been using the combined knowledge of yeast and enzyme development to determine the best combination of enzymes and yeast to help customers achieve their business targets, Osborne explains. The company’s Fiberex platform allows producers to release cellulosic ethanol from the corn fiber matrix to access low-carbon fuel markets, and increase ethanol and coproduct yield, Moser says.

Development of these enzymes starts with an understanding of the substrate, Moser and Osborne agree, a clear understanding of what the enzyme does to the substrate and how different enzymes can complement each other.

“Knowing the substrate and then also being able to test for those benefits. So, knowing that ‘Hey we’re going to get to see this much cellulosic ethanol, we’re going to get to see this much corn oil,’” Moser says. “So, being able to blend those two things is really important and a differentiator when it comes to those enzymes.”

The platform includes a combination of robust fiber-degrading enzymes enzymes, as well as enzyme-expressing yeast strains. The exciting part about cellulosic ethanol released from the corn fiber matrix is higher value ethanol for our customers, “Whether it’s delivered

as the enzyme itself or it’s expressed from a yeast to find the right combination that breaks down that fiber matrix,” he says.

Moser explains that Novozymes worked with the California Air Resources Board to deliver the right technology. “The way we help our customers is to understand what is required for CARB pathway approval by working with our customers, the engineering firm and the fiber analytics pro-

viders to understand what technology is needed,” he says. “Then, with the fiber analytics, we can show that our Fiberex solutions deliver up to 3 percent more ethanol qualifying as cellulosic gallons.”

Novozymes R&D conducts full-scale application testing to ensure that the enzymes perform as promised without disrupting the producer’s established production process. After the top enzyme solutions are

identified, they will run them through a gambit of application-relevant testing to ensure that it works in a variety of processes and conditions. “It’s not just one size fits,” says Moser. “We want to be sure that our products can work for all of our customers to really enable them to hit those low carbon fuel markets.”

They approach understanding the plant holistically, learning their customer’s goals and pain points. “We have dedicated scientists who lead full-scale application testing, working in close collaboration with our customers,” Moser explains. “We generate commercially relevant

Osborne

Moser

EYING INNOVATION: Researchers at Novozymes' Franklinton, North Carolina, research center are continuously engaged in both enzyme and yeast R&D and product development targeted at both first and second-generation fuel ethanol production.

PHOTO: NOVOZYMES

Enzymes

data that show our solutions can help our customers achieve their goals. It’s not just a tiny test tube, it’s a full-scale fermenter.”

Consistency and Carbon Reduction

CTE Global is an enzyme and yeast provider that develops products that help producers increase yield of both ethanol and DCO, improve production consistency and reach low-carbon markets, explains Pedro Peña, R&D director with CTE Global. He explains that enzymes allow producers to open the corn kernel and get to the protein, fiber, starch and fats, breaking up the matrix in a way that mechanical grinding cannot do. “When we’re looking at innovations, one of the biggest things is putting together enzyme blends that are going to push the boundary of yield, whether that’s oil or whether that’s ethanol,” Peña says.

There are three enzyme blends that CTE Global has been developing as part of its line of next-gen alpha amylase blends, each of which will include different blends of alpha amylase, thermostable protease and thermostable xylanase. The thermostable xylanase component increases oil yield by breaking up the fiber matrix, releasing oil and freeing up more starch to increase ethanol yield, Peña explains. Thermostable protease also seeks to improve oil yields but has the added benefit of providing a blend of amino acids to support yeast health. These enzymes allow producers to release more corn oil, target the corn fiber and improve ethanol yield, all within liquefaction due to their ability to handle high temperatures. “In essence, it’s the combination of those three different enzyme activities coming together in a family of alpha blends that we feel is going to give us and our customers an ability to push yield to a new boundary than we had before,” he says.

The thermostability—ability to function in high temperatures—of these enzymes allows producers to “do more with less” and get better results utilizing the high temperatures of liquefaction, Peña explains. Specifically, the alpha amylase benefits the producer by getting

more starch into the solution instead of going into the distillers grains. Thermostability allows the protease to open the corn matrix at a higher temperature, increasing the efficiency of the enzyme, releasing more oil from the kernel and generating amino acids and peptides to improve yeast nutrition. The xylanase provides similar benefits, breaking down the kernel’s fiber matrix effectively at high temperatures.

Another innovation CTE Global has been pursuing is the use of cellulases and hemicellulases to turn corn fiber into low-carbon cellulosic ethanol. “Giving our customers an opportunity to tap into the low-carbon markets has been awesome, has been a lot of fun, and something we’re really passionate about,” Peña says. Although implementing these products necessitates operational shifts, he explains that the CTE Global team is committed to helping producers optimize operations to maintain conventional output while producing the most cellulosic ethanol possible, as producers take advantage of new opportunities in the low-carbon fuel sector. “I think as an industry we have an opportunity to play a big role in decarbonizing liquid fuels, and that is a huge opportunity. I think our industry is rising up to the challenge,” he says. “To us, it was a no-brainer to participate and do everything we can to make this into a reality,” he says.

Tailoring solutions to fit every customer is key to CTE Global’s customer relations. Peña explains that understanding the unique goals and situations of each customer is key to CTE’s process. Before implementing a product at a plant, CTE Global will typically do a trial scope at the facility to understand their process, needs, challenges and goals, in order to match them with the best product for their situation. “We execute a suite of analyses to look deeply into the processes, so we understand where the opportunities lie. Based on customer needs and capabilities and our Tech-

nology Center findings we're able to come out to the market with a new product that answers the bell,” Peña says.

Continuous Innovation

BASF, another leading supplier of enzymes for the ethanol industry, recently launched its Spartec brand, under which all of its bioenergy products are found, including the company’s latest innovative alpha amylase, Spartec AMY 110. Brian Hoskins, product manager for bioenergy at BASF, explains that the Spartec brand was developed from a combination of the word “Sparta,” implying courage, strength and discipline, and the word “tech” or “technology,” representing innovation and product performance.

Spartec AMY 110 is used in liquefaction to hydrolyze starch, explains Asfia Qureshi, BASF’s head of applications, innovation and quality control for bioenergy. The amylase reduces viscosity, enabling plants to have higher run rates, increased ethanol yields and increased corn oil recovery. Qureshi explains that Spartec AMY 110 also makes a substantial sustainability contribution in the value chain by increasing yields and production efficiency. “The lower viscosity is very important from a processing standpoint. It eases manufacturing by improving the flowability of the slurry. This places less burden on equipment and ultimately results in better economics overall,” Hoskins says.

In recent years, BASF has seen a shift in customer goals and priorities, Hoskins explains. With high corn oil prices and a greater focus on carbon reduction, ethanol producers are placing more emphasis on DCO yield and lowering CI scores. “We do also see some plants prioritizing protein. They can separate that and get higher value for it if it is in a higher concentration or a higher purity than just selling it as DDGS—which would be what is left over,” Hoskins says. “These coproducts have become increasingly important.”

Qureshi Peña

One of BASF’s products helping producers capture more value from coproducts is Spartec CEL 100, a cellulase enzyme launched a few years ago that the company says helps increase oil production while reducing residual starch in DDGS. Qureshi explains that cellulases can also generate ethanol from corn kernel fiber. “We’re always looking at ways of working with biorefineries to develop sustainable solutions. Whether it’s improved feed products, alternative chemical pathways, bio-

based chemistries, these are all areas of interest for BASF,” she says.

As ethanol producers shift towards a biorefinery model that prioritizes coproducts such as corn oil, DDGs and protein alongside their ethanol, the enzyme industry is keeping in step with producers’ needs as each vendor innovates to develop the products that will help producers thrive.

Author: Katie Schroeder Contact: katie.schroeder@bbiinternational.com

PLANT UPTIME IS IMPORTANT TO EVERYONE

Our full service team of experts have 20 years of ethanol plant maintenance reliability and uptime history 24/7 support and ready access to a full inventory and all Fluid Quip equipment parts, ensures that you maintain your plant’s uptime status.

TECH TALK: Novozymes scientists discuss enzyme and yeast manufacturing testing protocols, an essential component of the company's new product research process.

PHOTO: NOVOZYMES

PUT TO THE TEST: A BASF technician checks on a pilot fermentation related to new biotechnological processes relying on advanced enzymes.

PHOTO: BASF

DRAWING OUT MORE

Today’s ethanol producers expect new yeasts to be flexible agents of plant efficiency, yield enhancement, coproduct optimization and input reduction. Their suppliers have even higher expectations.

By Luke Geiver

With ethanol producers now wanting yeasts to seemingly do it all—tolerate high heat, drive throughput, offset inputs, reduce costs and lower carbon intensity—it would be understandable if product developers couldn’t

meet every ask. But just the opposite seems to be happening. The industry’s top suppliers of bulk yeasts are almost a step ahead of their customers’ requests these days, regularly unveiling new products that improve fermentation times, reduce or eliminate yeast supplement usage and help plants reach new heights of production flexibility and optimization.

In 2022, a team working on developing new and innovative yeasts at Novozymes received results from a customer conversation survey focused on what its producer clients wanted from future products. Brianna Thompson, R&D innovation team leader, and Claudia Geddes, application team leader, along with Kim Bertz, senior manager of product marketing, together explained the survey findings to Ethanol Producer Magazine

DOWN THE LINE: An R&D technician pulls fermentation samples during a yeast research project.

PHOTO: NOVOZYMES

For Geddes, the survey results show an industry that primarily wants four things from yeast products. In no particular order, producers want to make more corn oil; have levers to improve fermentation performance; the ability to convert even more starch and fiber; and strategic opportunities built into their yeast products. Not surprisingly, the research and product development being done by the teams led by Thompson and Geddes has taken significant direction from the survey and other producer input.

“In R&D, we try to take a holistic approach,” Thompson says, explaining how thinking about yeasts in the context of plantwide operational goals helps the company create new lines of “industry-changing” yeast products.

Bertz says Novozymes is always looking at the breadth of its product portfolio. The company wants to provide flexibility to its clients by producing and offering a range of industry-leading products. “We don’t do onesize-fits-all,” she says.

Novozymes’ current portfolio of Innova yeasts includes three main offerings: Apex, Quantum and Turbo. The Innova Apex product allows producers to hit every part of the production curve with confidence, according to Thompson. Apex enables producers to take advantage of market conditions without sacrificing robustness or consistency of bulk production. Apex provides a 2 percent production increase and lower glycerol compared to the company’s previous yeast offerings; and it also ferments up to 36% solids. The strain can tolerate temperature excursions up to 101 degrees Fahrenheit while performing at 0.6 percent lactic acid and 0.4 percent acetic acid present. Innova Apex finishes strong with clean fermentations delivering higher ethanol yields and lower glycerol, all while protecting fermentations with the robustness producers have come to expect from the Innova line. And to help reduce production costs, the product can eliminate yeast nutritional supplements and urea up to 90 percent. Apex is made for fermentation times of 52 to 65 hours.

The Innova Quantum product is designed for longer fermentations, with enhanced robustness and up to 40% lower glycerol. The Quantum product provides yield

gains of 2 to 3 percent consistently, tolerates temperatures up to 98 degrees F, can power through lactic acid challenges up to 0.5 percent and also eliminates yeast nutritional supplements and reduces urea up to 90 percent. Quantum is made for fermentation times of 65 hours.

Innova Turbo was created for producers that want to turn up the dial on throughput but, in the past, have had a fear of plant upsets because yeast just weren’t fast enough or capable of tolerating high stress conditions. Turbo pushes up to 36 percent solids for higher ethanol titers, consistently finishes at less than 0.1 percent glucose, tolerates temperatures up to 101 degrees F, performs in 0.6 percent lactic and 0.4 percent acetic acids, and also eliminates nutritional supplements and reduces urea up to 90 percent. Turbo is made for fermentation times less than 52 hours.

All of the products were designed around what Geddes calls, “key care-abouts.” One of the main care-abouts has, and will always be, cutting input costs. The ability of all three yeast offerings to reduce yeast supplements and urea is a big part of answering that ask, Geddes says.

Traditionally, producers have added urea to the fermentation process as a nutrient needed to feed yeast so it can produce a resulting ethanol molecule. Although prices for urea were previously low, that has changed. In addition to price, urea can hamper overall fermentation optimization, reduce corn oil yields and negatively impact downstream operations.

The Novozymes team has created a way to deliver ethanol producers a holistic approach to maximize fermentation performance. By combining the power of advanced yeasts with novel liquefaction enzymes available through the Fortiva product family, they create fermentations where Innova yeast products can optimally create more ethanol, and enable higher corn oil yields without additional feedstock.

Liquefaction proteases break down corn protein into small peptides and amino acids, which are easily utilized by the yeast. This means the yeast has more energy to thrive, enabling it to quickly start up and reach peak performance, Geddes explains. Using Fortiva

combined with an advanced Innova product can increase corn oil production by a range of 10 to 15 percent, while reducing the need for urea supplements.

Geddes says some ethanol customers have used a urea supplement in the range of 3,000 pounds per fermentation. Reducing those numbers, for example, Geddes says, can save those customers up to $600,000 or more per year, depending on the size of the plant.

While Thompson and her team have worked hard to create a lineup of flexible and innovative yeast products that will, and have, accomplished things not previously seen in the ethanol production industry, Geddes and her team have kept in stride on the application and manufacturing side.

After Thompson’s team tests strains in real-world conditions—and some conditions tougher than those found in the realworld—Geddes and other Novozymes personnel make sure the strains can actually be produced and used at the commercial level. Our goal is to ensure each product presents a real value the producer can trust Geddes says.

All of the work maintains a focus on the customer, Geddes and Thompson say. From the latest industry trends (like thermotolerance and clean fermentations) to the desire for flexibility (just as the survey said), the Novozymes team is always looking for ways to debottleneck the fermentation process so its customers can get better results. All of that happens, at least for a top perennial player in the ethanol industry, by creating a robust portfolio filled with products that are taking the industry to new levels of both optimization and production possibility.

Better, Faster, Stronger

The explainer video for Lallemand’s newest yeast product—Fermacore—features a sprinting cheetah, an illustrated arm flexing a bicep, dollar symbols and a handful of other illustrated images. In total, the video lasts one minute and thirteen seconds and includes informative text displayed on the screen while inspiring, fast-paced music plays in the background. Its production value is top-notch. The combination of the images clearly display that Lallemand values the work its team has done on Fermacore. And, after

talking with the team behind Lallemand’s newest innovation in yeast, it would be hard to argue against them.

The sprinting cheetah is in the video to illustrate how fast FermaCore is. According to Matt Richards, the technical lead working on the yeast product, the new FermaCore product is the fastest Lallemand has ever offered. “If margins are high, producers want to get more product out of the plant,” Richards says. The team worked to produce and test a yeast strain for several years that would provide producers with an option for faster fermentation runs.

According to Angus Ballard, president of the biofuels team at Lallemand, the new FermaCore follows up previous yeast innovations created by the company. But Ballard says Fermacore is not merely an incremental improvement on previous strains. It’s a major step change, he explains, one that will rewrite the next chapter of Lallemand’s place in the ethanol industry and help the industry, in turn, do more with yeast.

In addition to faster kinetics for quicker run times, the product has increased robustness (can withstand higher pressures than previous yeast versions commonly used in the industry), maximizes ethanol yield by helping to express more enzymes and in some cases, eliminates the need to run with glucoamylase, a common addition to ethanol fermentation used by producers for years.

A study published in 2021 from Bioresources and Bioprocessing Journal looked at glucoamylaseexpressing yeast strains that could potentially be used in commercial-scale ethanol. According to the study, the cost of exogenous addition of glucoamylase is roughly 4 cents per gallon of ethanol produced, or the equivalent of 8.3 percent of the total processing costs. Ballard says that getting clients to understand that the FermaCore lineup of products eliminates the need (and cost) of adding glucoamylase has required some effort, but its main clients have come around.

“All of our clients want to know who has run it,” he says. “We are lucky to have many

GOOD TO GRATE: While liquid yeasts are increasingly common, here, dry yeast is hand poured into a mix tank. Yeast developers say their research and product development is focused on crating value, optimizing yield and maximizing plant returns.

PHOTO: NOVOZYMES

ZOOMING IN: Yeast developers are acutely focused on creating modified commercial offerings that help producers make ethanol faster, with maximum coproduct yield and improved overall production.

PHOTO: STOCK

Yeast Innovations for Lignocellulosic Ethanol

Researchers from the Agricultural Research Service at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois, have also looked for, and found, yeast strains that are more hardy, capable, heat tolerant and able to reduce the need for yeast nutritional supplements. Using a yeast strain found on sweet sorghum, the researchers found what they are calling the “toughest of the tough” strain. The toughness includes heat tolerance, fast growth and an ability to detoxify harmful byproducts like furfural while producing ethanol, ARS says. Z. Lewis Liu, a molecular biologist that previously worked at ARS said the new, “tough” strain also makes its own betaglucosidase, an enzyme which catalyzes the breakdown of simple sugars like glucose from lignocellulose so they can be fermented into ethanol. This eliminates the need to add beta-glucosidase “and lowers the enzyme cost of cellulosic ethanol production,” he says.

ARS has patented the strain for use in lignocellulosic ethanol production. So far, the strain has outperformed genetically engineered yeast strains already used in industry. Liu said that although the Clavispora yeast doesn't ferment all types of simple sugars available from lignocellulose sources, it still has the potential to reduce the cost of producing ethanol. And, the genetic makeup of the yeast could provide important clues to improving the use of other microbial strains in lignocellulose-based ethanol production systems, ARS explained. “The key,” Liu added, “will be making critical process engineering improvements to the bioreactors now being used, including their ability to stir the cellulosic mix with high loads of fermentable solids.”

customers that have run it because they want to be on the leading edge of the industry.”

Richards and his team are in the process of completing a full lineup of FermaCore products, including an LCI version. The LCI version gets its name from its ability to lower the carbon intensity score at a plant. Because that particular strain can access a greater portion of the corn kernel when compared to previous yeasts. The LCI strain can access more glycerol or liberate more corn oil, Richards explains, which ups the production percentage from the feedstock coming into the plant without upping the amount of feedstock used. That equation, he explains, is a simple way to lower a CI score.

Richards and his team are close to releasing the FermaCore lineup to the open market, but they will also continue to match the unique needs of their industry clients to their lineup of yeast strains. Ballard says the team runs a mobile lab at various ethanol plants so that they can run and test yeast in live mash runs. “That way we can optimize strains for real-world scenarios,” he says.

Overall, the work by Lallemand’s biofuels yeast team is about value creation, Ballard says. FermaCore will help producers make ethanol faster, produce more high-value coproducts and maximize production.

“The rate of innovation regarding yeast is accelerating,” Ballard says. “We are in a competitive market. I would encourage producers to stay aware of innovations that are coming out.”

Author: Luke Geiver Contact: editor@bbiinternational.com

DIGGING INTO DECARBONIZATION

Putting its deep knowledge of corn biorefining to work, Gevo has pivoted to blaze a new trail in sustainable aviation fuel.

By Katie Schroeder

Gevo Inc., an emerging key player in the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) industry, is leveraging its unique experience in biofuel production to develop a platform for decarbonized biorefineries set up to potentially produce negative carbon SAF. Formed in 2005 with the goal of developing yeast to convert carbohydrates into methanol and isobutanol, Gevo has now entered the burgeoning biobased jet fuel space, signing offtake agreements with roughly a dozen airlines and setting a goal of producing 1 billion gallons of SAF by 2030. Its history of producing isobutanol, ethanol and renewable hydrocarbons puts the Coloradobased company in a strong position to help de-fossilize the aviation industry.

Ethanol and Isobutanol Ties

Over a decade ago, Gevo acquired an ethanol facility in Luverne, Minnesota, retooling the plant for the production of both isobutanol and ethanol, side by side. The effort took a few years to commission, but by mid-2014,

Gevo had successfully demonstrated the joint production of the two biofuels. The company was drawn to isobutanol production due to its promising characteristics—its high energy content and potential as a valuable gasoline blendstock, explains Tim Cesarek, chief commercial officer at Gevo.

Isobutanol’s chemical structure gives it flexibility as a chemical intermediate for difficult-to-decarbonize parts of the chemical industry, according to Paul Bloom, Gevo’s chief carbon and innovation officer. Although ethanol and isobutanol are both produced by fermentation, isobutanol requires a more advanced process technology and runs at a lower concentration than ethanol.

Isobutanol also has the potential to be transformed into isobutylene, a component used by the petroleum industry to make plexiglass or polycarbonate, and it is also wellsuited for conversion into isooctane and, ultimately, SAF. Gevo pursued the isooctane path through its production of racing fuel and renewable gasoline. The company began production of renewable premium gasoline and biobased jet fuel in Silsbee, Texas, over a decade ago, early experience that enabled it to

pursue SAF. “We were one of the first to secure a pathway from the FAA, which was the alcohol-to-jet pathway,” Cesarek says. “At that time, we utilized our isobutanol production in Luverne and took that alcohol to Silsbee where we produced isooctane for racing fuel and jet fuel that was used in multiple OEM engine sets.” Over a period of several years, Gevo secured ASTM certification for its SAF, getting approval in 2016. Now, the company is ready to take the next step, just as global demand for SAF is set to soar.

SAF Era Begins

Worldwide, SAF is in high demand because it is the only market-ready option for an aviation industry striving to decarbonize—and as a result of low-carbon fuel mandates, carbon reduction targets and the proliferation of government incentives for SAF globally. With hydrogen and battery power still still decades away from being realistic options for carriers, SAF is critical.

“Gevo’s ‘drop-in’ SAF, meaning it can just drop into existing engines and infrastructure, gives carriers the ability to reach those net-zero goals sooner, while not relying on

technology that’s not ready for commercial scale,” explains Bloom. “We have always been focused on how we can use domestic, lowcarbon feedstocks to create alcohols and carbohydrates to make fuel. Gevo is all about creating low-carbon fuels, while at the same time ensuring the American farmer is compensated appropriately for growing the low-carbon feedstock we will use. This helps the environment and rural American jobs."

The aviation industry has the goal of 3 billion gallons of cost-competitive SAF available by 2030, which is a 66,000 percent increase over 2021 production rates. “It's an exciting time to be working on solving the challenge of lowering greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation industry,” Cesarek says explaining how Gevo has had to prioritize its activities to pursue its new vision. Recently, both the Silsbee and Luverne plants have idled as Gevo shifts its focus to the completion of its highly anticipated Net-Zero 1 plant in South Dakota.

CarbonNegative SAF

To provide the millions of gallons of SAF it has contracted, Gevo intends to build and operate a series of decarbonized plants to produce SAF with extremely low carbon intensity, or CI. Its flagship project, Net-Zero 1, located in Lake Preston, South Dakota, broke ground in September and is expected to be operational in 2025. When complete, the plant will transform corn into sustainable aviation fuel with a low or potentially negative carbon intensity, and Gevo will guarantee the CI of its fuel utilizing a proprietary block chain tracking system called Verity Tracking, calculating CI from field to flight.

“We’re constantly mindful of how to mitigate the fossil CO2 emissions in our process, and we’re constantly mindful as to how we can capture that CO2 and sequester it,” Cesarek says.

The Net-Zero 1 plant will use wind energy, renewable natural gas (RNG) and car-

bon capture and sequestration (CCS) to attain a negative CI score for its fuel (-5 grams of CO2 per megajoule of energy), as determined by Argonne National Laboratory’s GREET model (the ethanol industry's preferred model for its own product and SAF), explains Cesarek. Not only will wind energy be used to de-fossilize the biorefinery’s electric input, but it will also be used to make green hydrogen, which is needed in the process of hydrolysis. The facility’s need for thermal energy, which would normally be met through natural gas, will instead be met by RNG derived from the biomethane of surrounding dairies and potentially Gevo’s own northwest Iowa dairy.

The process flow of Net-Zero 1 will begin with low-carbon corn, which Gevo plans to procure from local farmers by incentivizing regenerative farming practices such as low- or no-till technology, lower amounts of artificial fertilizers and biological treatments to reduce nitrous oxide emissions, Bloom explains. The corn will then be converted into ethanol, DDGS and distillers corn oil, Cesarek says. The low-carbon ethanol will be converted into jet fuel using technology from Axens North America. “Axens not only provides

Bloom

Cesarek

GETTING OFF THE GROUND: Gevo officially broke ground on its Net-Zero 1 SAF biorefinery in September, starting dirt work on the first of what might ultimately be three or more similar alcohol-to-jet fuel plants.

PHOTOS: GEVO INC.

process guarantees, but their process technology and unit operations are also in use in the petroleum industry today,” Bloom says. Axens provides a complete range of solutions for the conversion of oil and biomass to cleaner fuels, the production and purification of major petrochemical intermediates, the chemical

recycling of plastics, all-natural gas treatment and conversion options along with water treatment and carbon capture. “The combination of what they had already developed [for producing] ethanol-to-jet, combined with what we know about ethanol and our de-fossilization strategy ... is kind of the secret combination—

the magic—that we brought together to make something that was executable in a time frame that could meet the demands of [our] customers.”

Net-Zero 1 is to be the first of several decarbonized greenfield and brownfield plants planned to provide Gevo's contracted 375 mil-

GREENFIELD VISION: While this rendering of Gevo's Net-Zero 1 SAF biorefinery under development in Preston, South Dakota, shows a solar array at the planned complex, the company has determined that wind power is better suited be the plant’s electricity source. Not only will the wind energy be used to de-fossilize the plant’s electric input, but it will also power green hydrogen production, which is needed in the process of hydrolysis, part of the SAF production process.

IMAGE: GEVO INC.

lion gallons of SAF. And with just two-plus years to stand up production on schedule, Cesarek says, the company is primarily competing against time.

“The cascading order of what it takes to build a plant, to put in place the necessary ecosystem, to demonstrably decarbonize, to build pipelines to capture CO2 and put it in the ground, and to build a wind farm, is our biggest challenge,” Cesarek says. “The market is here now, and they want the product now and ... a lot of it. So, it’s a matter of meeting and exceeding that demand."

Developing Verity Tracking

To guarantee that its SAF is low carbon, Gevo along with JV partner Blocksize Capital, is developing a block chain solution, or distributed ledger technology, called Verity Tracking. The technology will allow the tracking of carbon through the entire production process from farm to flight, explains Bloom. The system will allow Gevo to track carbon in the field and compensate farmers who are delivering low carbon feedstocks, accordingly. “Verity will enable us to verify the entire cycle of a carbon molecule, which means we can better compensate farmers growing low CI crops. The American farmer is the key to our entire business. Without farmers growing low CI corn, and what we are uniquely capable of doing with that corn, we’d be no different than any other company,” he says.

Gevo plans to make Verity Tracking available to any biofuels producers who want to verify and track carbon emissions from the field to the harvested bushel to the refined gallon.

One of its top near-term challenges is making sure the carbon reduction practices farmers put in place are rewarded by existing and future policy. For example, the California Low carbon Fuel Standard does not take into account the reduction of emissions in the feedstock when sustainable farming practices are used, but rather uses a flat number to calculate the CI score for every specific crop. Bloom says this needs to change in order to reward those delivering carbon benefits throughout the value chain.

Looking into the future, Gevo’s priority is the completion of financing for the Net-

Zero 1 plant, and of course to get it built and operating. As those targets are met in South Dakota, the company intends to follow through on the engineering, design and development of Net-Zero 2, 3 and perhaps more plants at locations Gevo has already begun to identify, explains Cesarek. “The convergence of demand and availability of technology-ready processes within the context of the overall energy transition creates an immense opportunity for us. It’s

exciting to think of what we’re going to do in the coming years and the entire team is working hard to make a difference,” he says.

Contact: katie.schroeder@bbiinternational.com

Author: Katie Schroeder

Stepping Up to CHP Platforms

While combined heat and power has been an enticing option for energy progressive ethanol plants for years, it’s now a front-andcenter play for producers on carbon reduction quests.

By Luke Geiver

Combined heat and power (CHP) isn’t novel to ethanol production, but mounting enticements for low-carbon, on-site energy generation are giving it strong new appeal. The technology— while large-scale and industrially robust—is simple, proven and effective. A turbine, combined with a generator along with a boiler on the backend, can produce electricity in a system that is more than 90 percent thermally efficient. Power produced from a modern CHP system can run in the 2 cent-per-kilowatt range, a big decrease from the 5-cent to 10-cent range common on the Midwest grid. Modern CHP designs are reliable and don’t go out when the grid goes down. They are tougher to hack from a remote locale. And, in an industry full of producers focused on lowering their carbon intensity (CI) scores, CHP systems can provide one of the largest CI score reduction offerings of any technology or strategy that doesn’t include the words “underground injection” or “pipeline.” For plants thinking about carbon reduction, the acronym CHP now seems almost synonymous with lower CI.

The State of CHP and Ethanol

Bernie Hoffman, vice president of P&E Solutions, an industrial contractor and service provider to entities evaluating CHP systems, has been in and around the ethanol industry for 22 years. Hoffman has watched the evolution of the industry, and right now, he’s busy helping several ethanol producers with CHP systems. “Everybody in the ethanol industry views their situation as this: upgrade, or get left behind,” Hoffman says.

For many facilities, CHP systems are proving to be the next big plant improvement. Blue Flint Ethanol LLC’s plant in Underwood, North Dakota, recently held a tour to show off some of its work and plant evolution. A major part of the tour was its CHP expansion. Hoffman’s team currently has three projects underway (and another eight to 10 producers talking with his team) that are bound by NDA’s, and whether it’s his company or another provider, Hoffman believes there will be several more projects on the way in the near-term.

CHP in the ethanol space is established, he adds. Adkins Energy in Lena, Illinois, has been running CHP for more than two de-

cades, while others are relative newcomers to it, like Kansas Ethanol in Lyons, Kansas, which has been running CHP for roughly one-and-a-half years, according to Hoffman. More broadly, there are roughly 38 ethanol facilities currently in the U.S. Department of Energy’s CHP database.

The industry push to lower CI scores will now make CHP one-part wanted and one-part needed. California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard has been a driver for ethanol plants “wanting” CHP for the past four years, Hoffman says. “Typically, a CHP installation will lower a plant’s carbon score by 10 to 12 percent.”

According to Hoffman, producers that have signed up for carbon capture pipelines or are building on-site injection wells have all realized that CHP is no longer just a want, but a need. “It takes a lot of electricity to put the CO2 in the ground or move it away via pipeline,” he says. “What we are finding is that the electricity demand for CO2 matches the total electricity demand for the ethanol plant.” For context, Hoffman provides the following example. For a 100 MMgy ethanol plant, the electrical demand of the entire facility will be roughly 6.8 MW. The electrical demand for

P&E SOLUTIONS

capturing and injecting, storing or sending it through a pipeline is estimated to be about 6 MW.

“They [the plants that have signed onto a carbon capture project] know there is an added electrical load that is coming,” Hoffman says. “If you are an ethanol producer doing carbon capture, you have an even more compelling story to install CHP.”

The Nuts and Bolts of CHP

A typical CHP installation costs roughly $25 million and is paid back in four to five years, according to Hoffman’s loose projections he shares with potential clients. That is installed, running and turnkey. Hoffman’s team guarantees a CHP project startup in 17 months. The heat recovery steam generator takes roughly 10 months to deliver and install, with the turbine and the boiler coming two months later. The major work components of the job include civil engineering for site prep and infrastructure integration, piping and pouring the big concrete pedestals. Tieins can be done during a regular maintenance outage that occurs during the project buildout, Hoffman says. One annual maintenance job is required for the CHP system, which

can also be done during a regularly scheduled plant maintenance outage.

With the push by producers to start working on CCS projects or join a pipeline network, Hoffman urges producers to start looking at their own situation sooner than later, because the timeline for getting the HRSG may be pushed back by a few months. Some fiscal incentives for CCS require construction to commence in the next 36 months, so getting started sooner on an installation is more advantageous to the entire process, he says.

The results are positive. P&E has realworld information from a 118 MMgy facility that it installed a CHP system for. The plant power demand was 6.8 MW, plant steam load was 160,000 pounds/hr and the plant’s CO2 production came in at roughly 300,000 tons/ yr. After installing a One Solar Titan 130 PGM LoNOx gas turbine gen set (capable of making 14 MW); one Rentech HRSG (with a max team capacity output of 300,000 pounds/hr), the plant earned a direct energy savings of $7.2 million per year. The carbon reduction totals came in at 37 gm CO2 e/MJ—or an estimated monetary value of $26 million annually. All of the plant's electricity needs were created from the turbine and 100 percent of

its required steam was provided by the HRSG.

With the P&E Solutions CHP offering, the design replaces grid electricity and steam from existing boilers once the project is complete. Grid power becomes backup only. The host plant can also shut down existing boilers and existing steam sources. “This can be important as many plants are aging and boilers need significant maintenance or replacement,” Hoffman says.

The Right Tech at The Right Time

Hoffman calls CHP and CI score reduction efforts a “marriage made in heaven.” He was part of a panel of speakers at the 2022 International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Expo in Minneapolis, the world’s largest gathering of ethanol producers. The entire panel talked about the role of CHP in the ethanol space, specifically how it can help with carbon reduction efforts. “I think this is a perfect storm for the benefits of CHP right now,” Hoffman says.

The FEW panel on CHP also included Rondo Energy Inc., a renewable heat tech innovator that provides industrial decarbonization services. Rondo has already been

ENCLOSED ENERGY: This is an actual turbine, the Solar Titan 130. When installed, the unit is contained in the enclosure shown so the internals are not exposed or visible.

PHOTO:

STEAM MACHINE: The heat recovery steam generator shown here is a boiler attached to the turbine. The HRSG creates the steam needed for the entire ethanol plant process.

PHOTO: P&E SOLUTIONS

awarded major investment dollars, including funding from Bill Gates. Additionally, Kevin Jensen, power generation account manager at Solar Turbines Inc. (a division of the Caterpillar Co.) shared how CHP complements other low- or zero-carbon energy sources. And Brandon Emme, director of technology development at ICM Inc., offered insight on the use of CHP and other process optimizations for lowering CI scores at the plant.

Currently, gas turbines are the most common tech for CHP, with relatively low emissions and no cooling requirement. Gas turbines are widely used in CHP applications and have relatively low installed costs, according to the U.S. DOE.

Along with Hoffman, the others on the FEW panel noted the significant financial incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, along with the LCFS, that can come from adding CHP. The other benefits include lower overall direct energy costs and higher ther-

mal efficiency, making CHP attractive across a full spectrum of energy prices, mainly natural gas. Plants can find a renewable energy feedstock to fuel a CHP set-up, which in turn lowers the CI score even more. Depending on how efficient a plant is, P&E Solutions has done modeling (for roughly 30 plants) that shows energy savings using CHP can be between 30 percent to 58 percent per year.

“I like to think that CHP will become the new corn oil recovery in the ethanol industry,” Hoffman says. “When plants first installed centrifuges to recover corn oil it spread throughout the industry and, today, I think every plant in the U.S. is selling corn oil.”

Author: Luke Geiver

Contact: editor@bbiinternational.com

PIPES OF POWER: The steam line pipe, shown here, attaches to the HRSG and moves steam from the CHP system to anywhere in the ethanol plant. Most steam set-ups cover everything required at a plant.

PHOTO: P&E SOLUTIONS

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