Going with the grain

Going with the grain

As ethanol plants pop up across the Midwest like corn in the spring, they are creating a huge construction drive that’s helping revive the economy in the Midwest.

The Rust Belt is getting a new shine. The Midwest, which has experienced decades of decreases in manufacturing plant construction, has seen a revival of sorts as the country warms up to stretch the nation’s energy supply with ethanol made from corn and milo.

There are already 114 ethanol plants on line and another 80 under construction in 2007, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. Current production capacity is nearly 5.7 billion gal. annually; when the 80 additional plants come on line in the next year, the ethanol plants will climb to more than 11.8 billion gallons annually.

Renewable interest renewed
Perhaps the biofuels market has come into its own as conventional fuel prices teeter near $3/gal. Some price watchers are forecasting even higher prices at the gas pump in the not-too-distant future. For the breadbasket of the United States, that’s an exciting new market that could help revitalize vast expanses of rural America and help ease the pinch of energy imports.

ICM Inc., a Kansas-based engineering, industrial and construction company focused on sustaining agriculture is known as an industry leader. The company presently has 12 plants in various stages of construction.

“ICM doesn’t take on other types of construction projects,” says Dale Turner, director of project management for ICM. “We only build ethanol plants, but we also engineer the technology our plants use to produce ethanol, so we are really a true design-build contractor. The plants are very similar, but each plant has its own design because of soil conditions, logistics of moving material and the market for ethanol and its co-products.”

ICM has developed proprietary technologies that result in a highly efficient ethanol production process. “We believe ICM plants have the lowest energy input needed to produce a gallon of ethanol. We have figured out how to maximize the efficiency of the heat energy needed to make ethanol, and we are constantly researching ways to improve that yield,” Turner says.

“Every ethanol plant builder has its own design, much like Ford, Chevrolet and Chrysler have their own designs for cars. The efficiency of the plant is based on the amount of raw energy that goes into the plant vs. the ethanol energy that comes out. We’re researching and developing new ways to tweak the production process to yield more ethanol with less energy. The better the technology, the greater the yield,” says Joe Scheer, vice president of operations at ICM.

“There are hurdles to building an ethanol plant. Every plant is different, depending on state emissions requirements and the quality of water coming into the facility. Most facilities get their water from groundwater. Water pH and hardness each affect the process. Some plants use an anaerobic digester that creates clean water quality for water recycling. This makes every plant unique, but they all usually follow the same types of production and construction processes,” says Scheer.

“The plants we build are 30, 40, 55 or 110 million gal. plants. It depends on what the owner wants,” says Scheer.

Along with ethanol, carbon dioxide and wet or dry distillers grain (DDG) are produced.

“It all depends on the area and the markets the plant serves. The plant may need to dry the distillers grain – what’s left over after the ethanol is produced – so it can be shipped and used for animal feed elsewhere. If the feedlots are close enough and large enough, the plant can deliver wet DDG to farmers to feed their animals,” says Scheer.

110 million gal. plant
One of the largest plants that ICM has under construction at this time is The Andersons, Inc. Clymers Ethanol Plant, LLC in Clymers, Indiana. The plant is designed to produce 110 million gal. of ethanol from 40 million bu. of corn annually. It’s on the same site as one of The Andersons’ grain handling terminals and, when completed in late April 2007, will employ 60 people and run 24/7.

“Presently, we have about 350 people working through various subcontractors on the site to complete the job,” Turner says. “We have a combination of union and non-union labor. Everyone is working well together. We look for contractors that can perform and meet schedules. Many are local contractors and suppliers, but some travel with us from job to job.

“Building an ethanol plant isn’t much different than building a paper mill, refinery or other manufacturing facility. We’re a heavy industrial general contractor and the safety commitment is like building any plant. We follow the safety guidelines needed from site work to pouring the foundation all the way through the construction process.

“It’s mostly installation of large pieces of equipment – steam generators, stacks, chillers, vessels and support components for the equipment so it can work together. The components are very heavy and large and many of them come to the site as escorted loads.

Coordination
“It takes great coordination between suppliers and contractors. The schedule becomes very critical to get the concrete in place, put the equipment in, set the steel building around it and get all of the piping, racks and electrical power in place.

“We use Microsoft Office Project to plan construction and Navision, a program that ties design, procurement, accounting and other functions together,” he says.

The plants are designed with safety in mind. “Fire hydrants are strategically located and some have a monitor on top that’s capable of spraying fire-controlling foam automatically.

“We’ve also had great assistance from insurance companies, fire marshals and the local fire departments to assure the fire protection in the plants will work. It’s all part of the construction process,” says Turner.

Stainless steel availability
The strong and steady worldwide demand for stainless steel has affected the cost of construction of this $135 million ethanol plant.

“Stainless steel is a challenge on this project. The price has gone up considerably since we broke ground in January 2006. We’re trying to forecast what we will need, but there has been such rapid growth in stainless steel demand,” says Turner.

The plants’ design continues to evolve. At the Clymers facility, the design calls for using insulated steel panels in wall sections. “The insulated panels reduce installation labor. It looks better than rolled insulation on the walls and takes less time to install,” he says.

The project engineers continue to streamline construction for even greater efficiency. “Prefabricated sections are a big part of the job. The plant has several small stainless steel tanks and vessels that are shop-fabricated and then installed on the site. However, the 800,000 gal. fermentation tanks are assembled on site. Some are then insulated to maintain temperature and conserve heat. We want to use shop fabrication as much as we can, but that depends on the size,” says Turner.

Ethanol production process

Several steps are needed to convert grain into alcohol. Engineers continually improve the fermentation and distillation processes, and seed corn growers are developing new hybrids that will help boost alcohol yield. All plants require similar equipment and use roughly the same steps to produce ethanol:

Ample grain supply and storage
Ethanol plants need access to grain and ample grain storage, so they are spread throughout the Midwest, often along rail lines. Most plant designs incorporate storage bins that will hold about a 10-day supply of grain, and that’s one of the reasons why The Andersons located this ethanol plant next to its grain facility in Clymers, Indiana. Because the plant consumes 40 million bu. of grain a year, it needs about one million bu. of storage.

Clean grain and water
Before grain enters the ethanol process, it is cleaned of any impurities and ground into a relatively fine powder. From there, it is mixed with water and enzymes that break the large starch molecules into smaller pieces. Depending on the water supply, pre-treatment may be needed to get it to the proper pH for optimum alcohol production.

Fermentation process
The wet, ground grain and enzyme mixture is pumped to fermentation tanks where more enzymes and yeast are added as agitation, temperature and other variables are strictly controlled. ICM’s design specifies a batch fermentation process where the starch molecules are converted into sugar and ultimately alcohol and carbon dioxide. Some plants collect, pressurize and sell the carbon dioxide.

Distillation
The water and alcohol mixture is moved to distillation columns where heat is used to separate the alcohol from the water by evaporation. This process removes all but five percent of the water from the alcohol.

Distillers grain goes to livestock feed
The distillers grain is moved to storage and shipping if there is a nearby market for the wet cake, or wet distillers grain, after the distillation process. This usually goes to cattle feedlots or dairy operations. If it will be shipped a long distance, it’s run through dryers and dried to about 10 percent moisture content so it can be stored without spoiling.

Final distillation
The alcohol at this point is 190 proof, or 95 percent pure. At the Clymers plant, it is moved into short-term storage until it can pass through molecular sieves that remove the final five percent of water.

Denaturing process
Once it reaches 200 proof in the final distillation process, it’s mixed with two to five percent gasoline by volume to denature it, making it unfit for human consumption. From there, it goes into storage until it’s shipped by rail or truck.

Published in the May/June 2007 issue of Contractor Tools and Supplies magazine.