Becoming a Biorefinery A new project is helping an ethanol producer to recycle waste. hat we are doing is changing this ethanol plant into what we call a biorefinery. ” That was GreenField Ethanol chairman and founder Ken Field commenting on the recent announcement of a first-of-its-kind greenhouse in North America that will make use of surplus heat and carbon dioxide supplied by Green-Field’s Chatham facility. According to GreenField Ethanol’s vice president of business development Barry Wortzman, it’s a kind of syn-ergy the industry is moving towards, especially consid-ering each tonne of corn used in the ethanol process produces a third of that weight as carbon dioxide. “A biorefinery is where nothing gets wasted. You’re not venting anything into the atmosphere – you’re using your CO 2 for an-other application.” The $65-million project on Bloomfield Road, across from the plant, will see 22.5 acres of greenhouse owned by Cedarline Greenhouses producing up to 21 million kilograms of tomatoes annually. The first crop will be planted next July. The second phase will see up to 90 acres of greenhouse over the next 10 years. The partnership will help to significantly reduce the greenhouse’s energy footprint by lowering heating costs by 40% while in-creasing tomato production by 5%, accord-ing to Greg Devries, owner of Cedarline. Devries said tapping into GreenField’s waste heat and carbon dioxide should also allow the greenhouses to be operable year-round, rather than being idled during the winter because of high heating costs. GreenField will update the technology at BIOMASS CANADIAN Volume 6 No. 1 Editor -John Tenpenny (905) 713-4351 [email protected] Associate Editor -Andrew Macklin (519) 429-5181 [email protected] Editorial Director/Group Publisher -Scott Jamieson (519) 429-3966 ext 244 [email protected] W Contributors -Catherine Cobden, Gordon Murray the plant, which currently doesn’t include waste heat recovery or a thermal oxidizer. The new technology will condense stack heat through a series of exchanger systems, allowing the ethanol plant to supply hot wa-ter to the greenhouse. The water will then be returned to the ethanol plant through an expanded cooling water loop. The company is also in-stalling technology that will allow it to develop a new co-product from the ethanol process – namely, corn oil. “We’ve incorporated a known technology at our Chatham plant that will allow us to remove the corn oil from the kernel before fermentation and to either make a biodiesel ourselves or sell it to biodiesel manufacturers,” said Wortzman. “Many plants in North America are now incorporating this technology because it’s another opportunity to generate a co-product revenue stream from a single kernel of corn.” In an effort to reduce energy costs at its Quebec ethanol plant in Varennes, Green-Field is currently developing an anaerobic digester that will be located on site and re-ceive organic waste from local South Shore communities. The waste-to-energy system will produce biogas that will be used to offset some of the natural gas consumed at the facility. • John Tenpenny, Editor [email protected] Official Media Partner of: @CanadianBiomass Market Production Manager Josée Crevier Ph: (514) 425-0025 Fax: (514) 425-0068 [email protected] National Sales Manager Ross Anderson Ph: (519) 429-5188 Fax: (519) 429-3094 [email protected] Quebec Sales Josée Crevier Ph: (514) 425-0025 Fax: (514) 425-0068 [email protected] Western Sales Manager Tim Shaddick [email protected] Ph: (604) 264-1158 Fax: (604) 264-1367 Media Designer -Gerry Wiebe Canadian Biomass is published six times a year: February, April, June, August, October, and December. Published and printed by Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. Printed in Canada ISSN 2290-3097 Circulation Carol Nixon e-mail: [email protected] P.O. Box 51058 Pincourt, QC J7V 9T3 Subscription Rates: Canada -1 Yr $49.50; 2 Yr $87.50; 3 Yr $118.50 Single Copy -$9.00 (Canadian prices do not include applicable taxes) USA – 1 Yr $60 US; Foreign – 1 Yr $77 US Occasionally, Canadian Biomass magazine will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission ©2013 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca 4 Canadian BIOMASS
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