Ethanol Production Line Project Proposal

Ethanol Production Line Project Proposal

Shandong Tianli R&D Institute April, 2008

Tianli R&D Institute

1. General Anhydrous ethanol, as an important basic raw material for chemical industry and the essential element in synthetic organic product, is widely used in building materials, medicine, pesticide and petroleum. Its main applications are: ‹ As the basic raw material, intermediate and carrier for medicine, pesticide and flavor production, such as sodium ethoxide, ethyl butyrate, triethyl phosphate production and etc. ‹ Used for ethyl silicate production in adhesive, antisepsis dope industry. ‹ As the solvent in advertisement painting, paint dope and printing ink production. ‹ Cleaning agent for electronic components, circuit board industry. ‹ As the raw material for new exploder in military industry ‹ Chemical reagent for anhydrous ethanol With the world economic development, the international price of crude oil has been soaring in recent years. Nonetheless, the anhydrous ethanol has attracted public attention because it can produce a new fuel called gasohol. More importantly, gasohol is a new type of clean fuel without pollution. It is reported that the United States has made a great development in fuel ethanol production in order to get rid of its dependence on oil due to the oil crisis. There are about 165 large-scaled fuel ethanol production plants using corn as material and 312 middle and small-scaled plants built for this purpose. According to the statistics by ACE, the gasohol sales in America annually exceeds 15 billion gallon. Brazil is also greatly developing fuel ethanol production by using cane sugar and molasses as material. Generally speaking, as a green fuel, gasohol has a promising bright future, and the anhydrous ethanol will also be increasingly demanded.

2. Design Conditions 2.1 Brief Introduction By using cassava or molasses as the raw material, in this project hydrous or anhydrous ethanol is to be produced by an advanced and developed technology with production capacity between 15,000 tons/annual to 100,000 tons/annual. There are 1

Tianli R&D Institute two feeding lines (cassava feeding line and molasses feeding line) running continuously all day, total working days per year being around 300. The large amount of organic wastewater out of ethanol plant (with the cassava as the raw material) is to be treated anaerobically and aerobically and the biogas can be in recycled use for power generation. The wastewater (with molasses as the raw material), after concentration and vaporization, enters the boiler to combust, which will reduce production costs and negative impact on surroundings. Besides, the auxiliary utilities are to be supplied in this project. Capacity design of this project is flexible at a utilizing rate of 70-110%. The whole plant comprises of three sections: ethanol production workshop, WW treatment workshop and utility section.

2.2 Facilities List of Facilities Serial

Item name

I

General layout and piping

II

Main production plant

1

Ethanol production workshop

2

Cassava WW treatment workshop

3

Molasses WW treatment workshop

III

Auxiliary production plant

1

Laboratory

2

Chemicals storage

3

Products storage

IV

Utility

1

Circulating cooling water station

2

Water supply station

3

2.4kV substation

4

Air compression station

5

Boiler room

6

Freezing water station

7

Fire fighting facilities

V

Administration utility

Item No.

Remark

2

Tianli R&D Institute Serial

Item name

1

Office building

2

Dining room

3

Guard's room

Item No.

Remark

2.3 Utility: Mainly includes a set of steam boiler system, a set of industrial water cycling system, a set of process air compressor system, a set of biogas generation system (raw material: cassava), a set of refrigerating water system, a set of electrical system, a set of water supply system and a set of fire fighting system.

2.4 Quality Requirements for Anhydrous Ethanol Serial

Testing Item

Specified Value

No. 1

Ethanol Content (20℃) %(v)

2

Density (20℃)

3

Appearance

4

Color/Hazen

≤

5

5

Moisture Content%(w)

≤

0.3

6

Aldehydes%(w)

≤

0.0025

7

Acidity (as acetic acid) %(w)

≤

0.0025

8

Distillation Interval

Starting point ℃

≥

77

Dry point ℃

≤

81

≥ ≤

99.8 0.790 Colorless and transparent

9

Flash point ℃

+12

10

Fusel oil mg/L

≤

50

11

Methanol mg/L

≤

20

12

Explosion limits % (v)

3.5~15

13

Refractive index

1.3618

14

Evaporation residue mg/L

≤

10

3

Tianli R&D Institute

3. Process Technology 3.1 Process flow of Ethanol Production Workshop (raw material: cassava) amylase ↓ raw material——→pulverization———→slurry——→steaming——→ vacuum cooling— glucoamylase high active dry yeast ┌→fusel oil ↓ ↓ | —→ saccharification ———→ fermentation —→ distillation —→qualified ethanol —→ dehydration → fuel ethanol ↓ └→vinasse→biogas └→concentrated effluent

3.2 Process flow of Cassava WW Treatment Ethanol mesh→Cyclone desander→filter tank→transportation ↓ cooling tower ↓ --------→mixing basin ┆ pump 1 ↓ ┆ Biomass energy reactor→seal device-→air collector--→biogas utilization ┆ ↓ ┆ concentrator ----------→Filter Press-→organic fertilizer transport ┆ ↓ ↑ ┆ water collecting basin ┆ ┆ pump 2 ↓ pump 4 ┆sludge ┆ cooling tower ┆ ┆ ↓ ┆ ┆←-----UASB reactor ┆ ↓ ┆ Sludge ┆---→AO active sludge basin←blower ┆ Circulation ┆ pump 3 ↓ ┆ ┆-------- Second Stage Sedimentation basin ----→Sludge concentrator ---- ┆ ↓ Aerobic basin→standard discharge

3.3 Process flow of Molasses WW Treatment 4

Tianli R&D Institute

Fresh steam

Flash vessel

Jet Pump

Alcohol Stillage

Evaporator Ⅰ

Flash vessel

Evaporator Ⅱ

Flash vessel

Evaporator Ⅲ

Flash vessel

Evaporator Ⅳ

Boiler

Membrane Tank condensate Ethanol Section

Vacuum pump

3.4 Process flow of Corn WW Treatment condensate → standard discharge ↑ clear liquid→ vaporizing station→ slurry ↑ ↓ ethanol→ separator → residue → dryer→ DDGS→ packing machine→ warehouse

4. Technology Strengths 4.1 Amylase resistant against high temperature and glucoamylase with high conversion rate are used in the continuous liquefaction and saccharification process for ethanol production, which fully exploits the potentials of amylase and glucoamylase and thus greatly improves the quality, quantity and yield of ethanol. Compared with the conventional cooking process, steam consumption is greatly reduced by around 40%. 4.2 By using this technology the waste stillage vented from bottom of the primary distillation column will pass through step by step from the first vacuum vessel to the second one. 500-600kg fresh steam can be saved out of per ton ethanol. 1600 tons 5

Tianli R&D Institute coal can be saved every year in terms of the annual output of 15,000 tons. Today, this latent heat recovery system with excellent performance is applied in many ethanol plants. 4.3 Biogas power generation: The biogas contains 60%-70% methane, whose calorific value is between 23000-27000kJ/m3. As a clean fuel, having fully burnt out, methane will be turned into CO2 and water, releasing amount of heat at the same time. 4.4 In the evaporator the wastewater will be concentrated and form dense slurry, which enters the boiler to combust for heat recovery. One ton of concentrated stillage is equivalent to 0.34 ton of coal. Vaporizing wastewater from producing one ton of ethanol can gain two tons of concentrated stillage, i.e. 0.68 ton of coal, which will greatly reduce consumption of coal. The energy consumption of this project is relatively lower, hence, while the energy is greatly saved, production cost is reduced, which lifts up the economic profit and competitiveness of products. 4.5 Automation Control The modern DCS automation control system is used in this project and three DCS rooms separately function for three different sections, i.e. liquefaction and saccharification section, fermentation section, distillation and dehydration section. The main process parameters and equipment operation states in each section can be monitored at real time by its own control room. This way, the auto-control level is improved to keep the process parameters steady, guarantee the product quality, reduce energy consumption and labor intensity, and ensure safe operation.

5. Safety and Environmental Protection 5.1 WW emission CODcr

≤

300mg/L

BOD5

≤

150mg/L

SS

≤

200 mg/L

NH3-N

≤

25mg/L

pH:

6～9

5.2 Off-gas treatment and discharge 6

Tianli R&D Institute After desulfurization and heat recovery, the off-gas will be discharged according to local emission regulations.

5.3 Solid waste The following measures will be taken for disposing of solid residue: (1) They can substitute coal for heating the boiler, which can greatly reduce the consumption of coal. In this project one boiler is planned to be heated by the dried residue with coal. (2) If corn is used as material, the dried residue can be sold as feed.

5.4 Fire Fighting Facility Foam extinguisher is suitable for fire fighting of ethanol vessels. Fixed extinguishing devices are installed on plant. After being mixed by water pump and mixer, the foam mixture will be sent to the igniting point. Through air the foam will uniformly cover the surface of liquid in order to extinguish the fire. The plant fire-fighting system is of circular piping network and low-pressure control. The above-ground type of hydrant will be installed outdoor, while inside the plant there are a water tank of 200m3, fire-fighting pump chamber and fire-fighting water basin. In every building there are indoor hydrants connecting together to form a circular net, moreover, the handy extinguishers are also equipped. In this plant fire class in distillation section, dehydration section and ethanol storage tanks section is A, and the fire class in other sections is B, C, D respectively. According to the related standards, workshops with fire class A shall be 12 meters away from the other workshops. Liquid storage tanks with fire class A shall be 25 meters away from the nearest building. There are ring-shaped fire-fighting passages wide between 6m to 8m with clearance no less than 4m, which can meet the requirements for passing of fire engines.

5.5 Greening In order to beautify the environment, greening is taken into account in this project. Shrubs, lawns and some pine trees or bamboos will be planted. Tall arbor trees will stand on both sides of road, helping protecting from dust, noise and emission of 7

Tianli R&D Institute harmful gas. In addition, we make good use of the designated lands by planting more greening zones for cleaning the air and improving environment.

5.6 Noise protection The sound pressure levels of equipment to be purchased are in accordance to the related requirements. As for the pumps and boiler burner head, if their noise level will not conform to the regulation, they shall be equipped with silencer or acoustic enclosure. As far as the large compressors are concerned, besides the necessary damping measures, isolating measure shall be taken as well.

Noise levels NO

Parameter

Specification

1

Leq, 8 hours

85 dB (A)

2

4 hours

88 dB (A)

3

1 hour

94 dB (A)

6. General Layout 6.1 Principle of general layout According to the local natural conditions and site surroundings, we do our best to make reasonable functional divisions. The big power users are located together with the power supply at hand and piping is neatly arranged. Such a concise layout can fully meet the requirements in production, transportation, fire fighting, security, sanitation and environmental protection.

6.2 Structure: This project comprises of main production plant of 15000 t/a anhydrous ethanol, auxiliary production plant (cassava WW treatment, molasses WW treatment), utility (circulating cooling water station, water supply station, material storage, ethanol storage, maintenance station, 2.4 kV substation, freezing water station, biogas power generation station, boiler room and air compression station) and administration utility (office building).

6.3 Features of layout 8

Tianli R&D Institute Compact structure, distinct divisions and neatly-arranged pipelines, meet the requirements of production and transportation.

6.4 The roads within the plant City concrete roads in orthogonal ring shaped arrangement (width: 9m and 6m).

7. Training and Service 7.1 Staffing 60 persons working four shifts in three turns are required in this project, the arrangement is as follows: Senior executives and salesman: 10, technical engineers: 10, others: 40.

7.2 Training Our company has successfully established several ethanol production lines in China. With fully-equipped pilot base and technical engineers, our company can make perfect training plan about process, equipment and on-site operation for the appointed technical staff according to the owners’ needs and provide one-station service. During the commissioning and start-up in the jobsite, we will instruct the technical personnel from the owner to be familiar with the knowledge concerning the process and equipment and help them acquire the operating skills as soon as possible.

8. Economic benefits According to different conditions and production scales, the investment is between US$ 10,000,000.00 to US$ 15,000,000.00/10000 ton for anhydrous ethanol production, the investment return period is about two to four years.

9