provided by: 
Reflecting the ever-increasing growth and development in biofuels, FEED & GRAIN will be devoting a section of each issue to the people and products in the industry, with featured facilities, news and product spotlights.
Philosophers from as far back as Aristotle's time have debated the theory that states "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts."
As far as the corn kernel is concerned, fractionation proves that the parts can indeed be more valuable alone than when neatly packaged together, as nature intended.
In ethanol production, fractionation creates a higher quality co-product, increases operating efficiencies and optimizes ethanol return on each bushel of corn.
Breaking down fractionation
By isolating the bran, the germ, and the endosperm, the individual components of the kernel can be used to their best capacity.
The actual separating of the corn is not as highly technical as one might think. A fractionation plant uses similar equipment that a regular corn mill uses. Mills grind the corn, sifters separate each of the fractions, and standard conveyers move dry materials in and out of the plant.
It's the strategic architectural layout of equipment and the way in which the co-products are utilized that truly makes it a high-efficiency fractionation plant.
The oil-heavy germ fraction of the kernel goes to the extraction plant where it can be processed into food grade corn oil and made into germ cake that can be sold as feedstuff or consumed as an energy source.
The bran, in addition to the germ cake, goes to a blending system to make a mid-protein feed ingredient. Some of the bran will be reserved for future cellulosic ethanol conversion.
The starchy endosperm goes directly to the ethanol plant where it is fermented into ethanol, producing carbon dioxide and High Protein Dried Distillers Grain (HP-DDG).
For Ethanex Energy Inc., a company that has their own proprietary corn fractionation model, the driving motivator for developing fractionation was to help individual ethanol plants stay afloat in this rough market.
When a commodity business is young and growing (like ethanol), profitability isn't always guaranteed. The company's goal is to offer plant operations the flexibility needed to remain prosperous during this initial stage.
"By [using fractionation] producers will be able to reduce their operating costs and greatly increase their revenues," says Alan Belcher, vice president of Ethanex Energy.
"This also helps widen their crush margins and allows them to weather times of high inputs and lower than average output prices."
Advantages of fractionation
The fractionation procedure adds value to every aspect of ethanol production, starting with the co-product.
A high-protein, high-value DDG is created using Ethanex Energy's fractionation model. "The HP-DDG from our process has been shown to be lower in phosphorous, lower in sulfur, and lower in fat and fiber than standard DDGS," says Belcher.
These qualities make it a better and more versatile feedstuff. "The lower fiber content gives it a higher inclusion potential in mono-gastric diets in contrast to the higher fiber DDGS that, by necessity, is directed to ruminant animals," says Belcher
Right now, Ethanex Energy is working with several universities on feeding trials for poultry and swine. Although the study is still in progress, they predict that with higher protein and lower fat and fiber, the product could potentially become a Soybean meal (SBM) replacement.
"Initial feeding results look promising for daily gains, feed intake, amino acid digestibility and higher inclusion rates in some species," says Belcher.
Utilizing fractionation technology not only creates a more valuable feedstuff, it improves the efficiency of the entire operation.
Renew Energy LLC operates an ethanol plant in Jefferson, WI that will use fractionation technology similar to Ethanex Energy's. Joe Thorner, vice president and general manager at Renew Energy, boasts the benefits of a high starch feedstock, produced only through fractionation.
"A fractionated feedstock ethanol plant will have feedstock that is more than 80% fermentable starch, whereas a whole kernel corn ethanol plant will have a feedstock that is around 70% starch," says Thorner.
Furthermore, roughly 14 to 17% of the corn kernel is inert material, useless for ethanol production, but useful in producing corn oil. The traditional ethanol plant wastes energy and space by heating, cooling, and storing that inert material.
Ethanex Energy's fermentation process makes production more efficient by separating that non-fermentable portion of the kernel, thus increasing production capacity while lowering costs.
Fractionation can be eco-friendly, too, as Ethanex Energy's method uses less water per gallon of ethanol produced than a standard whole-corn operation, and uses less energy from fossil fuel.
The ethanol plant reduces its dependency on nonrenewable energy with a biomass boiler. The boiler can be used to consume one or more of the bran, the germ cake and the syrup.
"Our Waltonville, [IL] site is also using the condensed corn solubles from our process for fuel to generate steam," says Belcher. "Integrating this system allows Waltonville to produce ethanol without using any fossil fuels for heating, giving the plant a near-carbon-neutral footprint," he adds.
Fractionation's heat-saving quality also makes it an environmentally sound production method. A traditional ethanol plant uses anywhere from 30,000 to 35,000 heat BTUs per gallon, while fractionation plants reduce the heat by 5,000 to 10,000 BTUs per gallon produced.
Making It Pay
Although increasing efficiencies may only be exciting stuff to plant operations managers, fractionation, if done on a large scale, can help the average American consumer.
Belcher predicts that when plants have more diverse revenue streams like fuel, feed and food, ethanol will be available to more markets. With higher supplies of ethanol, prices should stay within the range of gasoline. If gas prices go down, food and feed prices are sure to follow.
Of course, it does take a huge investment to build an ethanol plant with fractionation, but the payoffs are far greater in the long run.
The conversion cost is about $20 million to add fractionation technology to an existing ethanol plant. The trouble is getting started in the first place.
"The fact that the investors do not understand the science [makes them] reluctant to move forward with approving the loans," says Thorner.
Even if financers don't grasp the science behind fractionation, they should recognize a good business model when they see one.
"Right now plants cost about $2 a gallon to build, so if you have a 50-million-gallon, plant it costs $100 million and if you add fractionation it costs about $130 million. But you're going to get an extra 15 million gallons in capacity," says Belcher. "You still pay $2 a gallon for the ethanol plant, but you also get reduced energy and reduced water use, plus you get $6 to 7 million in extra revenue from corn oil," Belcher adds.
author: By Elise Sommerfeldt