Abstract
The fuel ethanol industry has put into
practice several techniques for minimizing
energy requirements for ethanol manufacture.
Thermal energy usage in fermentation grain
ethanol plants has been reduced from the prior
practice of 80,900 Btu per gallon ethanol to
current demonstrated practice of 49,700 Btu per
gallon. Future, state-of-the-art improvements
are expected to reduce usage further to 37,000
Btu per gallon or less. The total energy input
is projected at 52,000 Btu per gallon after
adding in the electrical power. Energy savings
have been achieved primarily by flash vapor
reuse, pressure cascading of distillation units,
and use of more efficient byproduct drying
methods. These energy saving techniques should
also be useful in other commercial processing
applications.
Easley, C. E. (1987). Energy Utilization in Fermentation Ethanol Production. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.eslwin.tamu.edu). Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /92859.