BIO ETHANOL MANUFACTURING PLANT FLOW DIAGRAM

The production method of ethanol depends on the type of feedstock used. The process is shorter for starch or sugar-based feedstocks than with cellulosic feedstocks.

Starch and Sugar-Based Ethanol Production

Most ethanol in the United States is produced from starch-based crops by dry or wet-mill processing. Nearly 90% of ethanol plants are dry mills due to lower capital costs. Dry-milling is a process that grinds corn into flour and ferments it into ethanol with co-products of distillers grains and carbon dioxide. Wet-mill plants primarily produce corn sweeteners, along with ethanol and several other co-products (such as corn oil and starch). Wet mills separate starch, protein, and fiber in corn prior to processing these components into products, such as ethanol.

Cellulosic Production

Making ethanol from cellulosic feedstocks - such as grass, wood, and crop residues - is a more involved process than using starch-based crops. There are two primary pathways to produce cellulosic ethanol: biochemical and thermochemical. The biochemical process involves a pretreatment to release hemicellulose sugars followed by hydrolysis to break cellulose into sugars. Sugars are fermented into ethanol and lignin is recovered and used to produce energy to power the process. The thermochemical conversion process involves adding heat and chemicals to a biomass feedstock to produce syngas, which is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Syngas is mixed with a catalyst and reformed into ethanol and other liquid co-products.

ETHANOL MANUFACTURING (DRY MILLING) PLANT FLOW DIAGRAM

1. RECEIVING : Corn arrives at the plant via truck. It is tested for moisture andquality, it is then weighed, off loaded and either processed or stored.

2. STORAGE & RECLAIM : The corn that is not immediately processed, passes over a very strong magnet to remove any foreign debris and is stored until needed for processing.

3. MILLING : The first step in preparing the sugar for fermentation is to feed it into a rotary scalper to remove any nonmagnetic debris such as pieces of cob or stalk that might be in the grain. The sugar passes through a hammer mill where it is crushed into a fine powder called meal.

4. ETHANOL PROCESSING : Slurry and Liquefaction: Meal passes into the slurry tank and is combined with water in the presence of enzymes to form a thick liquid slurry called mash. The mash leaves the slurry tank and is pumped into liquefaction tanks. These tanks maintain the high temperature needed to allow the enzymes time to efficiently break down the starch in the flour. Fermentation and Distillation: The high temperature mash is pumped into fermentation tanks. During this part of the process, the mash is cooled and yeast is added. From here the mash is moved to distillation tanks where it is distilled. Alcohol is separated from the mash and sent to molecular sieves for further processing and water removal to achieve 200 proof denatured ethanol.

5. WET CAKE PRODUCTION CENTRIFUGES: The mash that goes into distillation is only partly ethanol. The rest is a mixture of the corn solids that are unfermentable, water, and dead yeast cells. This solution it termed whole stillage and is sent from the distillation tanks to a centrifuge, where the solid material is separated from the liquid. The resulting liquid is called thin stillage and is added back to the solids that were removed from the whole stillage at the centrifuge, resulting in a product called wet cake. Wet cake can be stored, sold or it can go through the drying process.

6. WET CAKE DRYING EVAPORATION: Additional water is evaporated from the thin stillage using various heat or energy sources. Resulting in the creation of syrup.
DRYING: The syrup is sent to dryers, combined with wet cake and then heated in a combustion chamber to create distillers dried grain solubles or DDGS.

7. DDGS LOAD OUT Distillers (Dried Grain Solubles Load Out): DDGS is conveyed out to the DDGS and wet cake storage area where it can be loaded onto trucks or rail cars to be used world wide as animal feed.

PRODUCTION

Canadian Crystalline and R&D Centre

Our R&D laboratory represents a significant investment demonstrating Canadian Crystalline market- and technological leading position. A complete fermentation pilot plant is available for the conversion of starch and sugar substrates into ethanol. State-of-the-art laboratory equipment is available for analytical purposes including gas chromatograph (GC) and high - performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) machines. We investigate feedstocks, enzymes and yeasts, optimising yields and validating performance while providing the necessary data to undertake detailed equipment designs. For the thermal separation processes - distillation, rectification and stillage concentration - products are processed through pilot plants where a range of thermo-physical properties are measured, including boiling point elevations, heat transfer coefficients, viscosity, surface tension and solubility curves in order to determine optimum performance and concentration regimes.

1. Tests in the fields of:
2. Starch liquefaction and saccharification
3. Fermentation
4. Evaporation, distillation, rectification and stripping technologies Ethanol dehydration
5. Membrane filtration MF, NF, UF and RO
6. Complete process studies

Design, Engineering & Manufacture

Canadian Crystalline manufactures equipment in India, where our employees are experts in the fabrication of vessels in stainless steels and materials such as titanium and nickel alloys (e.g. 1-Iastelloy), Duplex and Super Duplex alloys. Columns of up to 4,600 mm diameter and 50 m in length are built in a factory covering 6,500 m2 with a lifting capacity of 120 tonnes. Pressure vessels are constructed in accordance with the ASME, European CE mark standards and the Pressure Equipment Directive. Our engineers use up-to-date computer design tools, such as FE analysis, 2-D and 3-D draughting methods.

Canadian Crystalline understands and analyses clients’ most complex requirements and work tirelessly in its Endeavour to provide user friendly engineering solutions from the feasibility study stage, conceptual developments, basic engineering, to Detail Engineering encompassing civil & structural engineering, electrical & instrumentation, mechanical and, piping; as well as advanced process engineering systems such as process / plant simulations, enterprise integration, integrated automation process, interactive 3D modeling. We have a strong and dedicated team of experienced technical professionals and qualified to implement all of the technical procedures and technological tools required by the process industry primarily, who are involved from the inception of the project in order to bring efficiency in project deliverables.