Project Narrative

IDENTIFICATION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE OPPORTUNITY

Locally produced Ethanol is an efficient, renewable alternative energy.  As an alternative to imported oil, it is superior for many reasons:

1. Ethanol is a renewable fuel.  Unlike petroleum, which is a limited resource, the crops that we will grow to feed the Ethanol distilleries can be sustained indefinitely.
2. Producing Ethanol is carbon neutral.  Carbon dioxide released when the Ethanol is combusted is taken out of the atmosphere by the crops.
3. Ethanol pollutes the air less than gasoline.  Exhaust from Ethanol powered vehicles and machinery contains almost none of the oxides of Nitrogen and Sulfur that pour out of the tailpipes of gasoline powered cars, and none of the particulate matter found in diesel exhaust.
4. Ethanol is less expensive than gasoline.  It costs less to produce, and its price is not controlled by foreign powers.
5. Ethanol requires less energy to produce.  Combusting Ethanol releases more energy than it takes to produce the Ethanol, unlike gasoline, which requires more energy to produce than it releases.  Ethanol needs no huge ships crossing the oceans full of crude oil, and no tankers carrying gasoline on our highways.
6. Local production creates local jobs.  Local production of Ethanol will bring work to the farmers who grow the crops, the engineers who build the equipment to make the fuel, the mechanics who modify the engines to run on Ethanol and the people who manage the distribution of the finished product.
7. Local distribution keeps money circulating in the local economy.  The money that locals spend at the gas pump now goes out of the area, out of the State, or out of the Country.  When they buy locally produced Ethanol, those dollars remain in local circulation, boosting the local economy.

Locally produced Ethanol relies on agriculturally-related manufacturing technology.  The flow through the production pipeline is simple: grow the feed-stock, prepare it for processing, ferment it into a low alcohol content “beer” and then distill the beer into Ethanol. 

The best candidate that can be grown locally is the sugar beet, a high sugar content feed-stock which grows well in our climate.  We will develop equipment to plant, harvest, and prepare the sugar beets for processing in small quantities, as well as the fermentation and distillation equipment for small-scale Ethanol distillation, storage, and distribution.

The opportunities presented by Local production of Ethanol far outweigh the technical problems.  This project is an opportunity to help solve the employment problem, the imported oil problem, the high cost of fuel, the sending of money out of the town for fuel, and the carbon dioxide problem, which is a major contributor to climate change.  We will show that a small community can become energy independent, wean themselves off of imported oil, convert from a high carbon footprint fuel to a carbon neutral fuel, and save money at the gas pump, while producing jobs for local residents and keeping dollars in the local economy.  We will develop the process and equipment to bring these opportunities to other small communities, too.

The technical problems that we will solve are problems of scale in the farming phase and in the distillation phase.  Existing sugar beet harvesting equipment, as used by sugar companies, is too large to work in small fields, so to develop equipment for a small farm we need to research and develop smaller equipment and modify it to meet our needs.  To prepare sugar beets for fermentation, we must research and develop grinding and pressing equipment to extract sugar solution from beets on a small scale.  And we must research and develop properly sized fermentation and distillation equipment to produce Ethanol from the beet sugar solution.

BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE

The United States has a mandate to increase the amount of ethanol used as fuels in automobiles to 36 billion gallons by 2022.  There has been an effort to meet that goal by distilling ethanol from corn, but the goal cannot be reached by using only corn.[1]   As of 2006, it took 20% of the corn grown in all of the USA to provide just 2% of our transportation fuel.[2]   Producing ethanol from corn yields a net energy gain of just 34%, because it takes 100 BTU of energy to produce ethanol that returns 134 BTU of energy.  That is better than gasoline, which has negative energy efficiency; that is, gasoline has only an 80.5 BTU return on every 100 BTU used to produce it.[3]  We will address two of the shortcomings of corn based ethanol by using sugar beets instead of corn, and by producing, storing, and using the ethanol locally, without the energy loss and increased price that comes from trucking the fuel from its point of production to its point of consumption.

RELATIONSHIP WITH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

In Phase I, we will research and design the equipment and the processes to produce ethanol from sugar beets, including equipment for planting, harvesting, grinding, pressing, distilling and storing beets, sugar solution, and ethanol.  Our process will be both carbon neutral and positively energy efficient, as these two requirements are critical to any sustainable method of producing energy.[4]  In Phase II, we will build and test equipment and processes.  We will use small tracts of land that are not currently producing food, so as not to disrupt local ranching.  We will develop these small, unused plots into productive farms.

Because there are no small beet harvesters built in the USA today, we will modify an older, smaller harvester like the Stoll V202.  It is a dual process harvester that defoliates and harvests, so it can separate beet tops from the sugar beets.  It is small and portable enough to be practical for our use in smaller plots of land.  The modifications to this harvester will include: 1) adding a lift system to discharge beet tops into a mobile cart; and 2) replacing the built in beet compartment with a delivery system that will load the beets into another mobile cart.  These mobile carts will be small enough to be pulled in tandem behind the harvester, or by another small tractor or truck.  The dual carts will be designed to dump their contents at the grinding and pressing machinery. 

These small pieces of equipment can be used in small communities both in the USA and abroad.  The commercial sector may replicate and improve on the small-scale equipment design.  The Federal Government can use the results of our Phase I research to guide future funding in other small, rural towns.  Other researchers can use our data to improve on the processes and equipment.  The USA will benefit when small communities learn to use this alternative fuel in their cars.  This subtracts from the 140 billion gallons of gasoline and 60 billion gallons of diesel that we use annually in the USA, and adds to the push toward the goal of 36 billion gallons of alternative fuel by year 2022.  The sister industries that this project facilitates include a dairy, with the beets, and a greenhouse, heated with the hot water from the distiller tower.

The estimated total cost of this approach, relative to benefits, is small.  Because no ethanol is produced from sugar beets in the USA, we have no real data to estimate the cost/benefit ratio accurately.  At least one benefit has no clear money value: Improving the social-well-being of the community.  We expect to make ethanol for less than $2.00 per gallon when we are operational, which should be far less than the price of gasoline at that time.  We can sell the ethanol at a modest profit, which can be used by other communities to purchase the equipment, based on our design.  This way the benefits will spread to other communities.

Demonstrating a successful system for producing ethanol locally will lead to changes in policy.  As communities learn that they can produce renewable fuel, their people will overcome their misconceptions about ethanol, and provide educated input to their legislators, influencing their decision making on ethanol and other renewable fuels.  Our sun is the only energy source that can meet the world’s energy demands (14 TW) while reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (385 ppm.)

PHASE I TECHNICAL OBJECTIVES

The first technical objective is to design an ethanol production process that is both carbon neutral and positively energy efficient.  To this end, we will research and develop equipment for planting and harvesting sugar beets in small fields, grinding and pressing the beets to extract sugar solution, fermenting and distilling the sugar solution into ethanol, and storing and distributing the finished fuel product.  At every step, we will weigh analyze the energy efficiency, and weigh the impact on the atmosphere.

The second technical objective is to prepare for cellulosic ethanol, a technology that will dramatically increase the ethanol yield per acre.  Although cellulosic ethanol is not practical at this time, we expect it to be a viable technology, soon.  We will design our process with cellulosic ethanol in mind, so that when the technology is available, it will be easy to switch from sugar-based ethanol to cellulosic ethanol.

The third technical objective is to prove a small bio-fuel facility for a community of 3,000 to 5,000 people is practical, will promote the local economy, and can be easily reproduced in other small communities.

PHASE I WORK PLAN

Task 1 – Planting and Growing Sugar Beets

We will study the history of sugar beet farming in Salmon and areas with similar climates, enlisting the aid of local farmers who have raised sugar beets locally.  We will investigate no-till planting, a method that is friendlier to the atmosphere than tilling, and which could be applied to sugar beet seeds.  We will compare the advantages of standard beet seeds to “Round-Up Ready” beet seeds, which require less chemicals be applied to the soil.  We will determine the requirements for crop rotation, and which crops are best to grow in rotation with sugar beets.  We will analyze the growing season, determine the number of days from planting to harvest for sugar beets grown locally, and estimate the yield, in tons per acre, of the beets and their sugar content, to calculate the yield, in gallons per acre, of ethanol.

Task 2 – Harvesting Sugar Beets

Modern beet harvesting equipment manufactured in the USA is designed for use on huge farms, so it is not practical for our small-plot model.  We will determine how to modify existing small beet harvesting equipment to be suitable for use in smaller plots of land, and engineer a system of mobile carts to haul off both the beets that come out of the ground and the foliage above the ground, so that none of the bio-mass is wasted.  We will investigate usages for the beet tops, and determine their value as animal feed.

Task 3 – Storing Beets

Because sugar beets cannot be grown year round in this climate, and because there is a narrow window of opportunity to harvest them, the beets all arrive at the same time.  So the production curve for beets is flat, except for a spike at harvest time.  But fuel usage is fairly constant, year round, so the demand curve for the finished product, ethanol, is flat.  We will develop methods of flattening out the supply curve to more closely match the demand curve; most of these methods involve storing raw materials, intermediate products, or the finished product.

Sugar beets can be stored for some time after harvest, if there is proper air flow around the beets.  We will design and test methods for storage that ensure proper air flow to the stored beets.  This storage will be during periods of cooler weather at the end of the growing season; this cool storage will increase the sugar contents of the beets.  We will measure the increase in sugar content during storage.

Task 4 – Extracting Sugar from Beets

We will compare different machines for shredding and pressing sugar beets to separate sugar solution from pulp, measure the sugar content of the solution, and investigate uses for the left over pulp, either as animal feed or as a secondary source of sugar to feed the fermentation process.  We will modify existing shredding and pressing equipment to optimize the sugar extraction.

Task 5 – Storing Sugar Solution

The second phase of storage, in order to flatten the supply curve, is storage of the sugar solution.  We will determine the proper storage containers and methods to assure the sugar solution can be stored for months without damage, and consider different locations for storage, and the costs for storage facilities and storage tanks.

Task 6 – Fermenting Sugar Solution

People have been converting a dilute sugar solution to a dilute ethanol solution worldwide for thousands of years.  These fermentation processes are not published for the sugar beet fermentation.   This project devises a cost effective fermentation to convert sugar to fuel ethanol, using the robust yeast available today.   We must vary the temperature of the fermentation to research the most efficient and complete fermentation.   

Task 7 – Distillation into Ethanol

Ethanol can be separated from water by distillation.  Small and scalable distillers for this project are not available.  The process of the big distillers of the corn-ethanol plants is proprietary and not available.   This project will research and develop a small and scalable distiller that is heated by an external furnace, to allow for various fuels for the distillation.

Task 8 – Storing Ethanol

The final phase of storage, to flatten the supply curve, is storage of the ethanol solution.  We will determine the proper storage containers and methods to assure the ethanol solution can be stored for months without damage, and consider different locations for storage, and the costs for storage facilities and storage tanks.

Task 9 – Delivering Ethanol

We will determine the equipment and facilities required to deliver the ethanol fuel to the consumer.

POTENTIAL POST APPLICATION

SATISFYING THE PUBLIC INTEREST

Strategic Goal 1: Enhance International Competitiveness of American Agriculture:

The small-scale fuel production equipment and techniques can work in developing countries.  The feed-stock preparation equipment can be adapted to a variety of feed-stock.  America can export the technology for small-scale bio-fuel production to developing and developed countries around the globe.

Strategic Goal 2: Enhance the Competitiveness and Sustainability of Rural Farm Economics:

When small farm communities produce the transportation fuel that they use, their economy improves.  Farmers who are producing low-income crops like hay can switch to high-income sugar beets.  The sister industries created by this process (distiller hot water for greenhouse heating and feedstock for animal feed) improve the economies even more.  A sustainable fuel source that is grown, distilled and consumed locally will protect rural areas from the whims of those from other areas who control wealth.

Strategic Goal 3: Support Increased Economic Opportunities and Improved Quality of Life in Rural America:

This project improves economic by creating local jobs in farming, production and distribution and spawning other industries with its byproducts.  Energy independent communities will attract entrepreneurs, leading to more jobs.  Quality of life improves when basis energy needs are less expensive and immune to outside forces.

Strategic Goal 4: Enhance Protection and Safety of the Nation's Agriculture and Food Supply:

A spinoff industry, greenhouse farming, produces safe, high-quality food that insures availability and reduces the need to import potentially dangerous foods.

Strategic Goal 5: Improve the Nation's Health and Nutrition:

Greenhouse fruits and vegetables will be locally available year round.  When healthy, nutritious foods like this are available more months of the year, they will be consumed more months of the year.   Money saved on energy and foods is freed up for health care. 

Strategic Goal 6: Protect and Enhance the Nation's Natural Resource Base and Environment:

This project requires the efficient use of farm land, makes fuel from renewable resources, eliminates the need to transport fuel to this area, and is carbon-neutral.