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Dear
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HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS
YEAR 2002
We at AFRICABIZ ONLINE wish you and your loves
ones a happy and prosperous business year 2002.
BusinessAfrica™ AND
AFRICABIZ� ONLINE NEW DESIGNS AND THE BROWSERS' WAR
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All that said, Internet Explorer 6 also has some annoying
shortcoming such as stopping to load or inadvertently
interrupting an important surfing session. Click
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Click here to
review Contributor's
Guidelines. Your contribution / economic
articles / technology breakthroughs on "How Africa
could bridge the developing gap" are welcome.
Many
thanks for dropping by and see you here on February
15, 2002.
Dr.
B.M. Quenum
Editor
of AFRICABIZ
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SORGHUM: AN INCOME BUILDING POWER FOR AN AFRICAN COMMUNITY.
PART IV: THE ENERGY BALANCE PROBLEM OF PRODUCING ETHANOL/ALCOHOL
AS BIO-FUEL
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Several business opportunities - component parts of the Integrated Developing Scheme described in Africans, Stop Being Poor! are listed in following table.
a-
SHEA BUTTER (Issues 5,
6,
7,
11,
12,
13)
b- BLUE GOLD (Issues 14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19)
c- FREEZE-DRIED PAPAIN (Issues 20,
21,
22
and here)
d- KENAF (Issues 23,
24)
e- VEGETABLE OIL (Issues 25,
26,
27
and 28)
f- CEREALS (Issues 30,
31,
32)
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In
issue N° 32
an introduction to ethanol as bio-fuel and alternative
to fossil based energy was made.
Table N° 1 available below lists some
feedstocks - which could be used to producing ethanol.
| TABLE
1 |
| ETHANOL
FEEDSTOCKS AND PRODUCTION COSTS US$ |
|
BIOMASS
MATERIAL
|
$
/ liter for feedstock cost alone (high end of range)
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$
/ liter for feedstock cost alone (low end of range)
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$
/ liter processing cost (high end of range)
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$
/ liter processing cost (low end of range)
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Total
$ per liter(high end of range)
|
Total
$ per liter(low end of range)
|
| Bagasse |
0.22
|
0.11
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.66
|
0.36
|
| Molasses |
0.13
|
0.13
|
0.27
|
0.14
|
0.39
|
0.27
|
| Prepared
cane |
....0.29
|
0.16
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.73
|
0.40
|
| Leafy
tops and cane trash |
0.14
|
0.17
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.37
|
0.32
|
| Unburned
sugarcane |
0.27
|
0.14
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.70
|
0.39
|
| Sugarcane
varieties |
0.25
|
0.13
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.68
|
0.38
|
| Napier
Grass |
0.38
|
0.20
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.82
|
0.46
|
| Sweet
Sorghum |
0.22
|
0.11
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.66
|
0.37
|
| Eucalyptus |
0.36
|
0.20
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.80
|
0.44
|
| Leucaena |
0.53
|
0.28
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.96
|
0.54
|
| Recycled
Newspaper |
0.04
|
0.01
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.47
|
0.27
|
| Municipal
Solid Waste |
0.10
|
0.00
|
0.44
|
0.25
|
0.55
|
0.25
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- WHICH IS THE BEST FEEDSTOCK?
Asking that boils down to asking two main closely
linked questions:
a)-
Which feedstock acquisition / production / purchasing
price is the lowest for the ethanol plant
b)- Which feedstock provides the best Energy
Balance. In other words which feedstock produces
ethanol which energy content (plus the energy
content of byproducts) had a positive balance
versus the energy content to producing the feedstock.
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Table 1 above
gives answer to question a). However the least costly
produced feedstock does not have necessarily the best
Energy Balance.
- ENERGY BALANCE ESTIMATION
Three areas need to be considered when determining the
energy balance of ethanol:
1-
Energy input to grow the raw material
The amount of energy needed to grow primary raw
material / feedstocks depends largely on the farming
practices and conditions. Crop irrigation, fuel
to powering production material, fertilizer, and
pesticide / disease control products represent most
of the time - in tropical countries - the largest
energy input.
Thus it is compulsory to have a perfect control
on the usage of all these conditions in order to
lowering the energy control of the primary raw material
/ feedstock.
2- Energy input to producing ethanol
There are basically two methods / techniques to
manufacturing Ethanol a)- Dry milling and
b)- Wet milling. Energy input in dry milling
is about equivalent to that of wet milling; and
production efficiency has greatly improved over
the last decade and is improving month after month.
So it is important to establish a production plant
based on the most efficient and current available
technology in order to producing ethanol with the
best Energy Balance.
3- Energy input to producing byproducts of
ethanol
One way of improving the Energy Balance is to manufacture
together with ethanol several byproducts. In other
words, choose the technology which permits the production
of byproducts with the minimum of energy input.
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Table below gives the Energy Balance of ethanol produced
from corn as feedstock (Source
According to the 1995 study produced by the Institute
for Local Self-reliance, Canada) using state-of-the-art
farming and ethanol production techniques:
| INPUTS |
BTU
per liter of ethanol |
| FEEDSTOCK |
| Fertilizer |
1,022 |
| Pesticides |
107 |
| Fuel |
349 |
| Irrigation |
1.597 |
| Other |
825 |
| Total
Feedstock Production |
3,901 |
| PROCESSING
TO ETHANOL |
| Process
Steam |
6,917 |
| Electricity |
1,360 |
| Bulk
Transport |
211 |
| Other |
277 |
| Total |
8,766 |
| Total
Energy Input |
12,667 |
| ETHANOL
OUTPUTS |
| Energy
in Ethanol |
22,217 |
| Co-products
contribution |
9,579 |
| Total
Energy |
31,796 |
| Net
Energy Gain |
19,130 |
| Percentage
of Energy Gain versus Energy Input |
51% |
- CHOOSE THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY
FROM THE START
The purpose of current delivery is to highlight the
paramount importance of selecting the right technology
from the start to produce Ethanol bio-fuel / alternative
to fossil fuel as here
extensively exposed.
Feasibility Study and Business Plan should be implemented
thoroughly to covering extensively all the aspects linked
to the Energy Balance problem.
-
In order to obtain the best ethanol plant African decision
makers should be careful not to acquire outdated
or obsolete technology. Not to purchase a second
hand plant to save pennies!
Technology to efficiently producing Ethanol is evolving
day-by-day. According to an interesting article
by Kathryn
Barry Stelljes producing fuel ethanol from grains
at low temperatures may be more feasible - and then
using less energy input and therefore improving
the resulting Energy Balance of the Ethanol - thanks
to improved enzymes developed in ARS' Western Regional
Research Center in Albany, California, USA. (In case
article had been archived, you may search ARS
site with the following string of criteria: Author:
Kathlyn Barry Stelljes. Date: April 4, 2001.
Title: More Efficient Ethanol Production Closer
to Reality) Click here for more
Next delivery Issue 34 - February 15 - March
14, 2002 considers economics
for a small to medium scale plant to producing Ethanol.
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