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Modular Energy Plant Makes Fuel From Grain, Residue
“We can turn corn and cornstalks – or even garbage – into ethanol or high-value n-butanol,” says Mark Gaalswyk, CEO, Easy Energy Systems. The company’s “modular” system of Lego-like pods makes it easier for one large farmer, or a group of farmers, to turn crops into energy.

    “N-butanol is the holy grail of biofuels because it has similar btu’s to gasoline. It could replace gasoline, but it has an even higher value when used as an industrial chemical.”

    Easy Energy Systems currently has a corn-to-ethanol and corn-to-n-butanol demonstration plant operating at Emmetsburg, Iowa. The firm is also building a garbage-to-n-butanol plant near Truman, Minn., that’s expected to be operating by the fall of 2016.

    The patented process uses shipping container-sized pods that each carry out one or more steps in the process. Expanding – or changing fuel production or inputs – simply requires adding or replacing modules.

    “We are still getting final pricing based on the pilot plants,” says Gaalswyk. “The Emmetsburg plant can produce in the ballpark of a million gallons of ethanol. Using the n-butanol modules, it can produce about 300,000 gal. of industrial solvents, 75 percent of which would be n-butanol.”

    The Truman plant is designed to use garbage from 2 counties. A multiple stage shredding system will separate glass and aluminum from organic matter, in particular paper. Cornstalks will be added to the paper waste and processed through the system to produce n-butanol. Byproducts include a lignal coal to be burned in a nearby power plant and biochar for use as a soil amendment.

    “One of the attractive aspects of the Lego-style system is that you can take state-of-the-art technology and prove it out on a smaller scale,” says Gaalswyk. “People come to us with their ideas, and we help them develop the technology. Then we get exclusive rights for using it in our modular system.”

    Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mark Gaalswyk or Jonathan Scarfpin, Easy Energy Systems, 102 Mill St., Welcome, Minn. 56181 (ph 507 728-8214; toll free 800 397-9736; jscarfpin@easyenergysystems.com; www.easyenergysystems.com).


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2016 - Volume #40, Issue #4