Feasibility Study for a Small Scale Integrated On-Farm Ethanol Plant

Abstract

The availability of wheat, along with the large amounts of manure produced by the livestock industry in the province of Alberta, presents an interesting opportunity for integration of farm operation with biofuels production in western Canada. Anaerobic co-digestion of manure and the wastewater from ethanol production generates biogas which could be used to produce steam and electricity, as well as digestate for fertilizer. Animal feed is obtained as co-product from ethanol production. In the present study, a conceptual design of a small scale integrated on-farm ethanol plant for the production of 112 L/h of anhydrous ethanol was developed. The process was designed and optimized for low energy consumption using a commercial process simulator. Optimization through heat integration lowered the steam consumption to 3.71 kg per liter of ethanol. The total capital investment for the project was estimated at 4,100,000 CD with a payback period of 5 years and a return on investment of 25%.