'Back to the Future' With N-butanol - Ethanol Producer Magazine
Running a 21 MMgy ethanol plant in an industry led by 100 MMgy-plus facilities isn’t easy. Smaller plants are at a major disadvantage, says Dana Persson, who served as CEO of Central Minnesota Ethanol Co-op for four years. “Being a small plant, you question what your future might be, and what that means to the plant, the corn farmers and shareholders. The company’s business model is to own and operate or become a majority shareholder in ethanol plants for normal butanol (n-butanol) and acetone production, says Joel Stone, president of Green Biologics. The plan is to add bolt-on production capacity at ethanol plants or retrofit them, like at newly renamed Central Minnesota Renewables in Little Falls, where Persson now serves as interim general manager of the plant and vice president for Green... The plant will continue to produce ethanol with minimal disruption during the transition to renewable chemical production, which is expected to be complete in mid-2016. Ethanol, a two-carbon alcohol, and n-butanol, a four-carbon alcohol, can both be produced through fermentation of corn, other crops or biomass. Source: www.ethanolproducer.com
