Goldstein W.E. The Science of Ethanol

CRC Press, 2017. — 276 p.The Science of Ethanol is directed toward helping the ethanol industry to be successful. Success means the industry will have greater sales and profits allowing it to flourish. Success also means that in achieving business goals, the companies in this industry will benefit the common good. The companies in the industry (and their associations) have to help make the energy supply more plentiful and less costly. The industry must be a force to improve the environment and also contribute to improving health and well-being. These objectives are very noble, worthwhile, and make good sense. The objectives can be addressed in very specific and practical ways that are a consequence of direct and indirect actions of the ethanol industry.
Chapter 1 introduces the science of ethanol and objectives in writing this book.
Chapter 2 focuses on best ways to develop, understand, and use yeast to manufacture bulk ethanol. Yeast is emphasized since there are not sufficient advantages presently to consider other organisms that may be replacement microbes in a commercial setting. This can, of course, change since research often changes things dramatically.
Chapter 3 focuses on use of the ethanol/gasoline fuel blend in internal combustion engines. This topic emphasizes research and development to make ethanol a better and more efficient fuel. Ethanol’s energy density per kilogram is less than that of gasoline. Therefore, it is necessary to show how ethanol use is beneficial to counter this disadvantage.
Chapter 4 focuses on computer-based process control (and process control specifically) as a means to continually tune processes to produce ethanol in a superior way in manufacturing. Recommendations are based on personal experiences that involve developing biocatalysts, yeasts, and enzymes, and using them in processes to produce ethanol.
Chapter 5 focuses on feedstock, considering agricultural resources available throughout the world. Arguments made in this section help one select their preferred feedstock source to produce ethanol.
Chapter 6 deals with helping to understand the biocatalytic properties of yeast and how to optimize its performance. This is facilitated through mathematical modeling. This model is useful in its own right. It is also beneficial to use as a basis to adapt the mathematical formulation to a specific facility for captive benefit. The application of this work is expected to improve yields, production rates, and cost reduction in a number of ways. The model can certainly be adapted in a practical way to specific operating facilities.
Chapter 7 provides an examination of cost parameters and patterns that emerge in the ethanol industry from available data. This information (and other data like it that one may have in their own facility) can be used to minimize costs in operation and in capital investment. This information can be used to examine a specific facility and adapt the methods to ones needs and database. A key aspect is to judge your specific feedstock with what others are using. This chapter provides an example comparison for ethanol production from feedstocks provided by corn wet milling, corn dry milling, and lignocellulose sources.
Chapter 8 deals with pollution aspects.
Chapter 9 points out that the ethanol processes manufacture a key product and many by-products. These can be exploited commercially as opportunities. By-products, such as Distillers Dry Grains used for animal feed, impact significantly on facility economics. Such impact will apply to ethanol produced anywhere by the selected feedstock. The by-products from these worldwide feedstocks need to be developed in a manner that has been accomplished by the U.S. corn refining industry. However, it is expected that experts in the animal feed industry will agree that their work is far from complete. Suggestions to improve such products and also potentially benefit animal and human health are covered in this chapter.
Chapter 10 notes that the main alternative route to ethanol (through ethylene) is possibly appropriate under specific circumstances. The path emphasized in this book is based on the use of an agriculturally sourced feedstock.
Chapter 11 provides conclusions, recommendations, and research directions for what can (and should) be done to protect the industry and help it to prosper.