Apr 23 2010
BigRiver Resources Galva is an ethanol plant, which produces 40 million gallon ethanol per year. From a bushel of corn, the ethanol plant can produce 2.8 gallons of ethanol. The plant has the capacity to store 3,000,000 gallons of ethanol.
Ethanol is produced at the ethanol plant by utilizing the dry mill ethanol process. The corn is first loaded in storage structures. The storage structures can hold a load required by the plant for 10 days. The grain then passes through hammer mills, where it is grind into powder. The milled grain is then mixed with water and enzymes to create a liquid mixture called slurry. The slurry is stored in liquefaction tank to give time for the enzyme to break down the starch into fermented sugars. Carbon dioxide is given off during the fermentation, and some ethanol plants collect it as a byproduct.
Yeast is added to the mixture and it is allowed to ferment for 50 hours. This result in a mixture called beer, which contains solids and alcohol. The beer is then pumped into distillation columns to separate ethanol from solids. Ethanol is moved through the top of the final column and the solid residue is transferred to the bottom column for distillers grain processing. The ethanol contains 5% percent water and is run through sieves to remove the water molecules and produce anhydrous ethanol. The ethanol is stored until it is transported for blending with gasoline.
Source: http://www.bigriverresources.com/