Sweet Sorghum Ethanol for Arkansas

Renewable fuels must be developed to decrease dependence on foreign oil. Sweet sorghum is one of the most efficient sources of ethanol known. Sweet sorghum has been grown in every county in Arkansas and loves marginal ground. Delta Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Producers, LLC, is working to build ethanol plants to serve Arkansas farmers and regional consumers. If you are interested in participating, call Jerry Gregory (870-265-1706) or Jim Worstell (870-673-6346). Or come by our offices at 22nd and Park, Stuttgart, Arkansas 72160. The Board of Delta Sweet Sorghum Ethanol Producers, LLC, is Ralph Baskett, Joe Pieroni, David Steritz, Jerry Gregory, Bruce Baskett, and Mark Pieroni.

Topics

1. Benefits for Arkansas
2. Basic process of ethanol production
3. Ethanol means high quality feed
4. Ethanol means an alternative crop for Arkansas
5. Arkansas’ advantages in ethanol
6. Cellulosic Ethanol
7. Future’s as bright as the sun

Effects on State and Local Revenue of Ethanol Plants

University of Texas, Mississippi State, and University of Missouri studies of ethanol plants of 80-100 mgpy capacity Directly create 50-60 jobs paying more than $37,000 per year (total payroll >$2 million). Each plant creates an additional 120 jobs throughout the regional economy. Impact on regional household income would be at least $79 million during construction and $41 million annually from operations. Contribution to local and state tax revenues will be about $2.4 million during construction and $1.3 million annually.

Return on Investment in Ethanol Plants

Most ethanol in the US is made from corn. Even small (20 mgpy) plants with a replay of the lowest historical prices of ethanol, DDGS, and CO2 results in at least a 12% return on investment 83.3% of the time. At $1.86/gallon value of ethanol and 24 cents/gallon for DDGS, the value of ethanol is $2.10. Subtracting corn at 70 cents/gallon and natural gas at 33 cents results in a gross margin of $1.07. A 100 mgpy plant has gross margin of $107,000,000 according to FAPRI, University of Missouri, 2006. Sweet sorghum ethanol plants promise to be even more profitable.

Step One: With corn, the first step is to turn feedstock into mash. We have to break down carbohydrate sugars, such as the starch from corn. Grind or crush the feedstock. Then dilute and add an enzyme (alpha amylase) to turn the mixture into a liquid. Once liquified a second enzyme (glucoamylase) is added to convert the starch into sugar. Sweet sorghum stalks are pressed resulting directly in sugar juice without grinding, digesting, or turning starch into sugar. After this step, both corn and sweet sorghum ethanol follow the same process.

Step Two: . . . Fermentation Add yeast and make it into a beer (wine) type solution.

Step Three: . . . Distillation The beer (wine) type solution needs to be run through a still to extract the alcohol from the solution.

Step Four: . . . Filtration The ethanol now needs to be filtered to get rid of excess organic volatiles.

Step Five: . . . Dehydration The ethanol needs to be “dried”. After the distillation process there will be a certain amount of water in the ethanol you have just created – for example, by running the ethanol through molecular sieves.

Step Six: . . . Ethanol Into e85 Now simply convert the pure ethanol into e85 by adding 15% unleaded gasoline to your ethanol. e85 is nothing more than 85% ethanol mixed with 15% gasoline.

Technology Sources

A primary source of technology is Indian companies, since India is the world leader in sweet sorghum ethanol. TATA Chemicals is completing a ~3 million gallon per year plant at Nanded in Maharashtra State this month. Praj Industries (http://www.praj.net/) is supplying the technology for TATA’s plant. We have visited with principals of the North American subsidiary of Praj (http://www.prajschneider.com/) in Omaha Nebraska. Praj is providing the engineering and equipment for the first large sweet sorghum ethanol plant in the US with Lousiana Green Fuels (LGF) at Lacassine, LA. We have visited the Lacassine plant and are exploring possible partnerships with Praj and LGF.

We are also closely examining the technologies proposed by other US companies. Seven companies are proposing sweet sorghum ethanol projects in Florida alone. These are described in the accompanying chart.

Of these, the company which has made the most progress is Renergie Inc., which wants to build the first U.S. ethanol plant that uses only sweet sorghum. Renergie plans to build ten 5-million-gallon plants in Louisiana and another 10 in Florida. Florida gave Renergie a $1.5 million grant last year.

The company would blend its ethanol with gasoline at gas station pumps and sell it directly to the public locally, minimizing transportation costs, according to Brian Donovan, CEO of Renergie. Renergie plans to use technology provided by the Rusni Distilleries in India. Rusni worked out a way to use the crop for ethanol by working with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), a nonprofit dedicated to improving agriculture to reduce poverty and improve food security while protecting the environment. Rusni Distilleries has built a ~4 million gallon per year plant in Andhra Pradesh State which has been operating for more than a year.

Co-Products in a Closed Loop

The stalks of sweet sorghum make an excellent fuel source. Sugar cane stalks provide all the energy needed to run ethanol plants from cane in Louisiana. Extra energy is supplied to the grid to further reduce our reliance on overseas nonrenewable energy. The only remaining product of the sweet sorghum production process is a liquid rich in minerals and nutrients called vinasse. Vinasse is an excellent fertilizer. It can be applied directly to the soil or dried and sold as organic fertilizer. Using sweet sorghum ethanol co-products in this manner creates a closed loop. No waste products are produced. The process just extracts carbon, hydrogen and oxygen from the air, turns it into a liquid fuel and returns all remaining nutrients to the soil. There they can be used by the next crop to extract more carbon from the air. Alternatively, crushed sorghum stalks are high quality feed. Farmers throughout the United States have been feeding silage made from sorghum for generations. Put your milo in the silo, we used to say. The feed value of high quality milo (sorghum) silage is higher than other feed for dairy and beef cows.

Sweet Sorghum can be grown on any soil. It can be grown on marginal soils where corn and cotton flounder. In Africa, sorghum even grows on high aluminum soils other crops will not tolerate. It is drought tolerant. In fact, sweet sorghum goes into dormancy when water is scarce and revives after rain. Sweet sorghum is highly resistant to disease and insects. It is an excellent rotation crop for cotton and soybeans.

With the long growing season in Southern Arkansas, we have suitable soil and air temperatures for sorghum from late February to nearly the end of November. Varieties have been chosen with varying times to maturation (see table below) and organized in a planting schedule to maximize ethanol production over the potential growing season. Data summarizing yields of the three varieties we have chosen are presented in the table below using 2008 data from the University of Nebraska and a conversion factor of 0.5 metric tons of ethanol from 1 ton of sugar and 308 gallons per metric ton of ethanol.

As the above table shows, the longer growing season in Arkansas means that sweet sorghum has the potential for seven months of production, compared to the three months possible in the Midwest. Return on investment will also be higher at a Delta plant than at plants in the Upper Midwest due to unmet demand from Texas for ethanol to replace MTBE. Some analysts contend Texas will require the second highest amount of ethanol to replace MTBE of any state. Demand for co-products of ethanol production by feedmills in Memphis (Cargill), Mississippi (poultry and catfish feed plants), and Arkansas (poultry and catfish) could also make return on investment higher from a Delta plant than from Midwestern plants.

Sweet sorghum also has high potential for cost-effective production of cellulosic ethanol. The soft stalks of sorghum are much easier to digest than other sources of cellulose. However, though the future may be in cellulosic ethanol, the technology is not here yet. Cellulosic ethanol requires enzymatic breakdown of cellulose into starch before ethanol can be produced. The enzymatic process is prohibitively expensive at present. In anticipation of future improvements in technology, DSSE plants will be designed for inclusion of digested sweet sorghum cellulose in the feedstock stream.

Ethanol is still less than 3% of the 140 billion gallons of gasoline sold in the U.S. every year. 75% of all new Brazilian cars are flex-fuel cars which can run on E85 (85% ethanol). GM, Ford and Chrysler produced 900,000 flex-fuel cars in 2007. Toyota has made a huge push toward E85 vehicles. For example, E85 is available for the entire 2009 Tundra model line of trucks. Policy change will increase ethanol use. The Federal Renewable Fuels Standard require 36 billion gallons of ethanol to be produced by 2020 and 60 billion gallons by 2030. E-85 replacing the 140 billion gallons used every year in the U.S. would create demand for ethanol to 119 billion gallons a year.

Ethanol Links

Feasibility studies and overviews

Texas feasibility study for ethanol

Powerpoint on Ethanol Potential for Arkansas

Arkansas feasibility study

Success Factors for Ethanol plants

Specific topics

Effect of Local Ownership of Ethanol plants on local economy

DDGS links (University of Minnesota)

Ethanol markets