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Bioenergy no 2 - March 2015

FEATURE: BIOMASS TO LIQUIDS Bioenergy Internat ional No 78, 2-2015 9 One of Europe’s largest and most modern fuel ethanol production units, the Pannonia Ethanol Zrt facility in Dunaföldár, Hungary represents a bold greenfield investment move. The US style “corn-to-ethanol” plant is archetypal of a first generation biofuel installation so vehemently opposed by various non-governmental organisations (NGO’s), lobbyists and policy-makers. Opposed for all the wrong reasons it would seem. PANNONIA ETHANOL IS SITED ON THE WEST BANK OF THE RIVER DANUBE outside the town of Dunaföldár in Tolna County about 75 km south of the Hungarian capital Budapest. Dunaföldár is an agricultural community with a population of around 10 000 and Tolna is in the heart of one of the main Hungarian grain producing districts. According to 1990 – 2011 figures from the national statistics office Központi Statisztikai Hivatal (KSH), Hungarian maize production fluctuates between 4 and 9 million tonnes output. However planted acreages, roughly 1 million hectares per annum, have remained almost the same over the period, a reflection of varying yield per hectare in a given year. Furthermore, of approximately 182 000 farms that grow maize, only 10 percent have a farm larger than 20 ha yet these account for 80 percent of the total output. Tolna and neighbouring regions have the largest concentrations of these larger holdings. US-style corn-to-ethanol There has not been opposition to Pannonia Ethanol by those whose livelihoods and environment it may impact. On the contrary the local community and the Hungarian government have warmly welcomed the project. Indeed it was given “Special State Supported Project” status by the government on account of its environmental and economic benefits. It is the first project of an Irish American joint venture the Dublin (Ireland) based Ethanol Europe Renewables Ltd, EERL. Formed in 2010, EERL is owned by the family of former Irish property developer Mark Turley and the family of Granite Falls, Minnesota based ethanol plant builder Ron Fagen. Groundbreaking took place in August 2010 and 20 months later, in April 2012, the plant began operation. Today, the plant has an annual nameplate capacity to processing 650 000 tonnes of feed maize into 280 000 m3 ethanol and 160 000 tonnes of dried distillers grains and solubles (DDGS). The overall design, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) was carried out by Fagen Inc. via its subsidiary Fagen Europe LLC. All the process equipment was manufactured in the US with necessary European standard adaptations, for instance electrics, and shipped to Hungary. It is the first overseas installation for Fagen. The plant utilises a closed-loop dry mill process technology developed by another US company, ICM Inc., a privately held US agricultural engineering company with proprietary food and feed technologies based in Colwich, Kansas. The dry mill process is widely used in US corn-to-ethanol plants. Fagen is a licensed ICM technology partner and has been involved in the construction of over 90 dry mill ethanol plants in the US. In dry milling the entire grain kernel is ground into flour and put through the fermentation process whereas wet milling involves separating the grain kernel into its constituent components; germ, fibre, protein and starch prior to fermentation. Local feedstock The feedstock used is non-GMO (genetically modified organism) maize majority sourced from within a 100 km radius of Dunaföldár and delivered by truck to a colocated grain storage terminal. Sited on the riverbank, this terminal is owned and operated by Cargill Hungary, a subsidiary of global agro-industrial major Cargill. The terminal has a 30 000+ tonne grain storage capacity, about 15-20 days worth of feedstock, as well as river barge loading facilities for the DDGS produced by Pannonia. – We use only non-GMO feedstock, most of which is grown in Hungary. This is very important to us as verified GMO-free DDGS, our main co-product, commands a significantly higher price, commented Ferenc Jánoki, Production Manager, Pannonia Ethanol. He explained that the company has its own sourcing staff that deal directly with farmers as well as grain suppliers. The minimum feedstock purchase contract is for a single truckload, about 25 tonnes. – This means that practically every arable farmer in the region, regardless of farm size, has the opportunity to be a potential supplier in a given season, said Jánoki. In other words Pannonia in itself is not expected to have any notable effect on the existing Hungarian farmland ownership structure, a point highlighted in an “Economic Impact Study” published in July 2012 by HÉTFA Center for Analysis. Simultaneous saccharification and fermentation The maize is conveyed from the Cargill terminal, screened to remove any foreign objects and contaminants and then milled into a flour by hammer mills. Recycled process water and enzymes are added to the milled grain in slurry tanks along with recycled water, thin stillage, from the post-distillation centrifuges. In the slurry tanks a reaction known as starch gelatinisation occurs. The process is further enhanced by use of a selective milling whereby the slurry is pumped through a separation device that separates and regrinds any remaining solids before returning it to the process stream. Hydrolysis of the gelatinised starch into glucose, takes place in the liquefaction tanks. The process results in mash, which is then pumped to fermentation tanks where simultaneous saccharification and fermentation takes place. A glucoamylase enzyme breaks down the dextrins to form »


Bioenergy no 2 - March 2015
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