E³ BioFuels Facts
This plant will make ethanol more than twice as energy-efficient as any other method of producing ethanol or gasoline.
—E3 BioFuels CEO Dennis Langley
- Cattle at the feedlot in Mead, Neb.: 28,000 head
- Feedstock used per year: 8.5 million bushels
- Manure produced per year: 300,000 tons
- Ethanol produced per year by the Genesis plant: 25 million gallons
- Energy needs for boiling the ethanol produced on site: 100 percent
- Regulations governing Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) such as feedlots and large dairies: Becoming stricker.
Glossary
Anaerobic digester: A solid waste management facility that uses microbes to break down manure from a dairy or feedlot into biogas and sludge. In the E3 BioFuels-Mead system, anaerobic digestion takes place in two four-million-gallon concrete vessels.
Biogas: A product of the anaerobic digester that is a combination of methane, carbon dioxide and trace levels of other gases produced by the decomposition of organic matter.
Whole stillage: The unprocessed by-product of ethanol production, consisting of protein, oils and cellulosic fiber.
Thin stillage: The waste portion of whole stillage; mixed with manure in the E3 BioFuels-Mead anaerobic digester to increase the efficiency of biogas production and make use of the corn cellulose it contains.
Wet distillers grain: Also known as WDG or "wet cake," the portion of whole stillage that is fed without drying to cattle on site. If not dried, the high-moisture wet distillers grain can spoil quickly, and is very costly to transport.
Source: Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy